An American Cardcaptor
by SuperKateB
Summary: Sakura Kinomoto, a typical university sophomore, finds herself in over her head after she starts researching a mysterious book called The Clow. But how can she - a blundering history major - capture all the cards that she's let escape? - ON HOLD.
1. Prologue

========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler (duncan@avenew.com)  
Prologue: "The Legend of the Clow"  
========================  
  
It was a small room, almost too small for two people to be living in, and yet they dwelled there, anyway.  
The first of the duo was a small, pale girl with an obscenely long mane of gray-black tresses, tresses that   
swept past her shoulders and down her back to curl off at the small of her back. Usually, she resorted to the   
simplicity of a pink headband to hold back the unruly waves but today, as she bent close to her computer monitor,  
reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose, those familiar strands of hair were pulled back into a high   
ponytail.  
  
The other girl - if she could be called a girl - was seated cross-legged on a bed, her green eyes squinting  
down at a sheet of paper. She was, all things considered, a simple-looking child; her tresses were shoulder-  
length and the color of freshly-baked bread, and today, as they almost always were, those same tresses were pulled  
back into two little pigtails.   
  
After a few moments of perplexed silence, the brunette set down the papers she had been holding and turned  
to her friend. "Tomoyo," she beckoned, causing the dark-haired one to glance up from her computer, "have you  
ever heard of the - " She paused, glancing back at her stack of pages. " - 'Legend of the Clow.'"  
  
"The legend of the what-now?" blinked the other, her purple-blue eyes widening. "What in the world are  
you talking about?"  
  
Moaning softly, the brunette collapsed onto her pillows, her eyelids fluttering shut. "It's my stupid  
Myths and Legends class again," she whined, groping for and finding her stuffed Hello Kitty doll. "I have to do  
a ten-page report on this STUPID legend about a crazy-ass magician who made a book full of cards and expected  
them to have magical powers."  
  
Her companion chuckled. "I think that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, Sakura," she responded,   
turning back to her computer. "How in the world are you going to do a report on something that is obviously very,  
VERY made-up?"  
  
"Stupid history major," muttered the brunette as she rose to a sitting position and swung her legs over  
the edge of the bed. For a moment, she did nothing but stare at the wall, studying the anime posters that she had  
painstakingly hung and re-hung until they were perfectly straight. Her second year at the university had promised  
to be nothing more than fun and games, but it turned out that such a promise was actually a neon-colored lie.   
Since the beginning of the semester, she had done nothing more than study, write papers, and deliver   
presentations. How in the world was that fair, especially when her roommate had enough free time to play on the  
computer all the time?  
  
'You shouldn't have been a history major,' the dark-haired one had joked one day at lunch, finding her  
friend to be particularly bitter about the whole arrangement. 'Graphic design is the way to go! I mean, look  
at how little I do!'  
  
Shaking such memories from her head, Sakura slipped on her tennis shoes, rising to her feet. Outside,  
the leaves of the oaks and maples that lined the quad were turning colors for the first time that year, greens  
fading to orange, tan, and gold before their very eyes. "I have to go down to the library," she informed her   
roommate idly, snatching up her keys and stuffing them into her jeans pocket. "We supposedly have a copy of this  
Clow Book in special collections, and I might as well start at the source."  
  
Fingers that had been busily typing paused, and Tomoyo glanced up from her work, frowning slightly. "Do  
you want me to go with?" she questioned, cocking her head slightly to one side.   
  
"Nah," responded the brunette. "I don't think that anything big could possibly happen down in special  
collections beyond my getting bored out of my skull and deciding to play solitaire with Clow's cards." She winked  
a green eye, and her friend grinned. "I promise to be back for dinner, okay?"  
  
"'Kay!" chirped her roommate, turning back to the monitor. "Have a good time!"  
  
Sakura wrinkled her nose. A good time? Yeah, right.  
  
===  
End Prologue.  
===  
  
Preliminary author's notes: This is the first installment in a fic I will work on intermittedly from now on.   
As you can see, it's an Alternate Universe, so I really don't want to hear whining about how I wrote an AU,   
because, cry about it, I wrote it anyway. Expect a chapter every two weeks.... Maybe more often. I hope more   
often. 


	2. Chapter 1: Special Collections

Sakura Kinomoto walked along the sidewalk toward the library, her footsteps causing the half-dead leaves  
that were scattered across the pavement. For the first time in the year, it was just cool enough in upstate   
New York to need a jacket but, at the same time, it was warm enough that - after only a few minutes of walking  
through quad - Sakura found herself taking off her jacket and slinging over her shoulder.  
  
"The Legend of the Clow." What kind of legend was that? She had pre-read all the sheets she was supposed  
to, and it had only led her to the conclusion that Professor Terada was going out of his way to torture her. Then  
again, perhaps she deserved it; she and Chiharu, together, HAD been late three days in a row because they had  
stopped at the Union to get coffee. Maybe this was payback.  
  
Sighing, she paused in the middle of the sidewalk, hanging her head. "It just figures that I get the   
one masochist teacher in the universe," she muttered to herself with a shake of her tresses. "I mean, how could  
I POSSIBLY find out anything about a legend from Hong Kong? Some idiot probably came up on it while on opium and  
decided it would be a fun way to play with the minds of innocents."  
  
Pink. She blinked at the sudden dot of pink in her vision, and offered forth a hand. The tiny sliver -   
a flower petal, it seemed - fell gently into her palm, its touch soft against her skin.  
  
She frowned, her lips pursed. "A cherry blossom?" she breathed, watching as a gust of wind caught it   
and pulled it from her grasp. "But... Cherry blossoms only bloom in the spring..."  
  
Green eyes watched the pink sliver dance on air before, shrugging, the young woman started down the   
sidewalk toward the library.  
  
========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler (duncan@avenew.com)  
Chapter One: "Special Collections"  
========================  
  
The elevator music seemed three times louder than usual as, impatiently, Sakura rode her way from the   
first floor of the library toward the sixth, where the special collections were held. Students rarely dared go   
up to the top-most floor of the building for anything, let alone books; the library itself was a musty, stuffy  
building, and the sixth floor seemed to make the entire bibliophilic experience more horrible than necessary.   
  
Doors opened with a ping and the brunette hopped out of the elevator and onto the floor. At first breath,  
she nearly choked, the stuffiness nearly suffocating her. "How in the world can this place be so nasty?" she   
muttered to herself with a shake of her head, wandering through the dingy lighting as she headed toward her goal.  
"All the drapes and windows are open, and it still feels like it's a hundred miles underground."  
  
"Perfect place for a monster," commented a voice from behind her, a voice deep and chiding. "Seems like  
you fit right in here, Sakura."  
  
"Hoe?!" She nearly tripped over herself as she whirled around on her heel, green eyes lowering dangerously  
at the young man behind her. "Touya, I should have guessed," she huffed, tossing her pigtails haughtily. "I   
suppose you're up here doing some of your obnoxious graduate school work huh?"  
  
Dark eyes rolled as the young man stepped somewhat away from her. For the first time, Sakura realized  
that he was holding an enormous stack of think, age-worn books. "I'm here for my part-time job, remember? Not  
all of us are smart enough to get our educations funded to the nth-percent." He took the top-most volume off the  
stack and shoved it between two other tomes on what seemed to be a random shelf. "Besides, it's easy for a monster  
to get a scholarship; everyone feels sorry for her."  
  
Sakura harrumphed and stuck out her tongue. In all the nineteen years since she had been born, her brother  
had gone out of his way to pick on her, a habit that failed to halt once he was a third-year graduate student.  
Even after so long, he still gave her the nickname of "monster" and constantly teased her about everything,   
whether it was her measly height of five-foot-two or her constant insistence to - even as a college sophomore -   
wear pigtails in her hair. Still, she knew - or at least, figured - that he loved her; he had gone out of his  
way to transfer graduate schools just so keep and eye on her.  
  
"So, what brings you up here, anyway?" questioned Touya with the arch of an eyebrow. "There's not much   
for a history major around here; it's all old literature anthologies and stuff."  
  
"Actually, I'm here for special collections." The comment warranted a mighty smirk from her sibling.   
"What?" she protested loudly, stomping a foot. Old, immature habits seemed to die harder and harder, these   
days. "You make it sound like I can't possibly learn!"  
  
Touya shook his head of dark hair, still smiling. It looked almost as though he was hiding a hilarious  
joke. "Oh, it's just that you missed Yuki," he responded with a shrug as he gathered a few more books off the  
reshelving cart. "He just left about ten minutes ago to go down to the cadaver lab."  
  
A small blush crossed her face, but it was unduly brief as she pushed her insane spark of jealousy   
away. "That's fine," she responded calmly, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "I wasn't coming here to see him,  
anyway. I was coming here to see the Clow book."  
  
"Clow?" blinked her brother, his brow furrowing as he spoke. "You're studying the Clow?"  
  
"In my stupid Myths and Legends course, yeah," she nodded, a bit confused by her brother's sudden   
interest. What would he, busy pursuing his Master's Degree in Education, really care about a historically stupid  
book? "I just want to look at it and try to figure out where to start in my paper."  
  
There was a pause as her brother set down his armful of books and dug into his blue jeans pocket, pulling  
out a key chain with but a single key. He tossed it toward her, ignoring her cry of "hoe!" as she nearly fell   
over in a rather poor attempt to catch it. "It's in case 4B, bottom shelf," he told her with a shrug. "Don't   
tell anyone I gave you a key, either, or I'll get fired."  
  
Green eyes blinked, a bit confused by the key. "You mean...it's not just in the normal shelves?" she  
asked, as though this was the strangest thing she had ever or would ever hear of. "Why is that?"  
  
"If I knew, I probably wouldn't be allowed to tell, anyway," he admitted as he hefted the stack of books  
back into his arms and started down the stacks, passing her. "Just be careful, okay?"  
  
Sakura frowned, staring down at the key. "Okay..."  
  
===  
  
"No, Mr. Kinomoto, she just left," sighed Tomoyo into the phone, her fingers clattering across the   
keyboard as she listened intently to the man on the other end. In all her time knowing Sakura - which consisted  
solely of the first and now, second year of college - she had come to know only small bits about her friend's  
family. She knew that Sakura's older brother was a graduate student who lived off campus, but that was about   
it. And, as much as she wanted to ask, she never found a way to edge in a comment without sounding nosy. Even   
when Mr. Kinomoto called, a bi-monthly experience, she couldn't bring herself to ask her friend anything. "Yeah,  
she's working on school stuff. Something about a...Crow?...book in special collections. Clow? Yeah, that sounds  
about right."  
  
She paused to double click on Adobe Photoshop, watching as her background - a photo of Sakura from the  
previous year's Halloween Social, dressed as Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Saturn - disappeared and was replaced by the  
program's blank canvas. "Yeah, I'll tell her you want her to be careful. Mmm-hmm. Bye, Mr. Kinomoto."  
  
As the dark-haired teen placed the telephone back into its cradle, she couldn't help but frown slightly.  
"Be careful?" she repeated, blinking. "What in the world is there to be careful about? It's just an old book..."  
  
===  
  
The lock snapped open with a surprising amount of ease, something that probably should have bothered the  
young history major. Unfortunately - or was it fortunately? - she didn't give it a second thought as she reached  
into the glass case and slowly, carefully, picked up the Clow book.  
  
"What a simple-looking thing," she muttered absently as she pushed the case's door halfway closed. Her  
fingers ran across the cover almost of their own accord, tracing the natural creases in the red-brown leather  
before feeling over the metal, embossed design. An animal that looked like some sort of cross between a dog  
and a lion stared out across the front, wings on either side of its face, with a sun under its chin. On the right-  
most side of the book was a latch much like those on little kid's diary, the keys attached with a little linked  
chain.   
  
A shiver ran up Sakura's spine, a shiver so annoying and uncomfortable that she almost dropped the book  
on the floor. Regaining her composure, she crossed the room and seated herself at one of the many cubicle-  
style desks. As soon as she set down the book, another shiver ran up her spine, this one more intense than   
before.  
  
For a moment, she entertained the thoughts of a ghost or demon attempting to take over her soul, and the  
thought caused her to first panic and then to laugh. "I am such a big baby!" she chided herself with a small   
blush, fidgeting as she sat down in front of the Clow book. "It's just a book, that's all! This Clow Reed guy,  
or whoever, just had a sense of humor." Another shiver, a shiver so strong that her teeth chattered, attacked,   
and she flinched. "I hope so, at least..."  
  
Time passed as she stared at the lion-dog, her green eyes studying the cover. Nothing out of the ordinary,  
she decided inwardly as she reached for the tiny keys. They were so smooth and thin that they felt as though they  
were made of cheap plastic, but her feeble attempt to bend them with her fingers failed. They were real metal,  
a metal so well-refined that it seemed fake, man-made.  
  
"Talk about weird," she shrugged, raising the first of the two keys just above the lock. A brief sense  
of dread washed over her, a sense of dread that begged and pleaded that she not open that book. Still, curiosity  
mingled with her determination to beat her professor at his own game won over her own sense of fear, and she   
inserted the key into the lock, twisted, and pulled the latch away from the cover.  
  
Nothing. Not a sound, not a motion... Nothing.  
  
"Heh, I WAS just getting all worked up over nothing!" chided the brunette to herself, blushing at her   
own blatant stupidity. Her fingers moved to cover, slowly flipping it open. "Next thing you know, I'll be   
thinking that my dorm room is haunted and that - "  
  
Light. Light and wind. Sakura screamed and jumped up, shocked to see cards flying from the innards of  
the strange book. They flew around her, over her and under her, hitting walls and shelves before disappearing in  
a flash of color.   
  
"HEEEEEEELP!!!" she hollered, diving under the desk as the cards flew around her. She clenched shut  
her eyes and covered her head. "HEEEEEEELP!!! TOUYA!"  
  
"Sakura!" The door slammed hard against its stopper as Touya rushed in, his arms still full of books. His  
footfalls thumped loudly against the carpeting...and then stopped.  
  
....silence....  
  
After a few moments - they could have been seconds, but they seemed more like hours - a green eye peeked  
open, only to meet with brown. "HOE!" shrieked the brunette, jumping in surprise. Her head smashed against the   
underside of the desk, and she yelped in pain. "Oooooowwwww...."  
  
"You really ARE a monster, Sakura," chided her brother, tossing what appeared to be a stuffed animal   
at her feet. She blinked up at him, clambering out from under the desk. "To scream just because a book with a   
toy in it scares you..."  
  
His sister frowned, bending down to pick up the so-called "toy." It was a small, orange doll that looked  
something like a cross between a teddy bear and a cat, only it had two yellow-white wings sewn to its back.   
Dull, empty black eyes peered up at her with the glossy and unblinking stare of plastic.  
  
"Eh, eheheheheheheheheh... I guess I got carried away," she admitted with a blush, rubbing the back of   
her neck. "I just..." She glanced at the abandoned Clow book. All it was, she realized, was a block of wood with  
a strange slot cut out of it. The slot looked about the size of a tarot card...  
  
Cards! She blinked, suddenly remembering what had happened. Tossing the stuffed animal onto the table  
she dove onto her hands and knees, peaking under the desks and shelves. "There were cards in the Clow Book!" she  
exclaimed as she crawled about, groping under some of the darker shelving units in search of something - ANYTHING.  
"They all started flying about as soon as I opened the cover! Honest!"  
  
Touya seized her by the neck of her sweatshirt and tugged her roughly to her feet, glaring down at her.  
"You either need to cut down on the anime or just plain stop trying to play practical jokes on me," he growled,  
his face becoming the epitome of strictness as he spoke. "I've had ENOUGH of these games of yours, Sakura. If  
anyone else had been around, I would have been fired on the spot."  
  
"...sorry," she muttered, blushing. She watched guiltily as her brother stalked out of the room, slamming  
the door behind him as he mumbled something about taking his coffee break. She sighed and collapsed into the   
seat she had previously occupied. "Why me?"  
  
"I dunno, but I think you've gone done a good thing!" chimed in a voice, its Southern drawl peppy and   
cute. "Then again, I ain't really got any say in this matter, but wakin' me up has gotta be the best thing that's  
happened to the Clow in a long time!"  
  
Sakura smiled, her mood a bit pacified. "Thanks!" she chirped, turning her head to glance at the grinning  
stuffed animal that was standing on the desk. "I think Touya's ready to ki - HOE?!"  
  
The chair tipped backwards as the brunette tried to get away from the stuffed animal. Her legs flew up  
in the air, but she managed to ignore it as she covered her face. "There is NOT a talking little orange thing  
sitting there! This is all the result of an overactive imagination and one too many episodes of Sailor Moon!"  
  
"Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" questioned a voice, and a green eye peaked open to see the stuffed animal   
floating in midair, the yellow-white wings flapping just the smallest bit. The teen frowned and hopped off  
the toppled chair, backing away from it. It followed, blinking black eyes. "The name's Keroberos, and I'm the   
Guardian of these here Clow cards!" It fluttered down to the ground and stood before Sakura, stifling a bow.  
"If you hadn't gone and waked me up, them there cards mighta escaped and then we'd REALLY be in a heapload of  
troubles!" Little eyes slanted shut as the creature grinned. "So, tell me, wheredya put them cards?"  
  
Swallowing hard, the young woman took a deep breath, still staring at the talking toy. "You... You want  
the cards?" she asked, blinking.  
  
"Yup!" smiled Keroberos, nodding eagerly at the brunette. "Where are they?"  
  
"Well, uh, there was a breeze..."  
  
"Mmm-hmmm."  
  
"...and a bunch of lights..."  
  
"Yup!"  
  
"...and they all flew away."  
  
"Oh, okay, so they - WHAT?!?!"  
  
In all her nineteen years, Sakura had never seen anything, living or otherwise, move as quickly as that  
stuffed toy moved that day. It took to the air and went jetting across the special collections room. "They got  
out!" it moaned as it landed atop the desk, peering into the empty hole where the cards had been. "The Clow Cards  
are lose in the world! This ain't gonna be pretty!"  
  
Sakura climbed slowly to her feet and crossed the room, coming to stand over the desk. The little creature  
had its tiny head buried in its paws as it perched on the edge of Clow book. Still in the slot was a pendant of   
sorts that looked somewhat like the shape of a bird's head, and...   
  
"Here's one," she apologized, holding out the one last card that had been in the very bottom of the book.  
Keroberos glanced up at her as she offered forth the card. On the front of it was a picture of what appeared to  
be a woman in long, flowing clothes, with long hair streaming around her. "I'm sorry that the rest of them got  
away like that..."  
  
Sniffling, the little animal accepted the card, staring at it. "Windy..." it sighed, shaking his head.   
Then, a smile crossed its face. "If Windy stayed, that means that you're the one I'm supposeda be lookin' for!"  
it exclaimed merrily. The card was discarded to the side of the desk as paws reached into the cards' hole and  
pulled out the pendant. "I didn't think that it would be comin' from a college girl, but whatever! You're her!"  
  
Green eyes blinked. Once, twice, SEVERAL times. "Huh?" she questioned, not really able to formulate   
words as Keroberos took to the air and looped the pendant around her neck. "I'm who?"  
  
"The Cardcaptor!" it announced with a smile, still hovering in midair. "The one who the cards will obey...  
Well, once you've gone found them again!"  
  
"FOUND them?" shot the brunette angrily, grabbing the floating plushie around the waist and shaking it   
furiously. "It's not MY fault that they got out! If you were the guardian, you probably shouldn't have be - "  
  
"What in the name of God are you doing?" questioned a voice, and Sakura turned quickly on her heel to   
see her brother standing in the doorway, eyeing her curiously. Blushing, she stowed a now-struggling Keroberos  
behind her back, smiling embarrassedly. "I could have SWORN I heard you talking to that little stuffed thing that  
was in that book."  
  
She grinned, waving her empty hand in his direction. "I was just mentally pre-writing my paper," she   
lied, green eyes sparkling as truthfully as she could force them to. "I was thinking about discussing why the   
Hell Clow Reed would put a stupid little stuffed animal into his - OWW!" She dropped said stuffed toy on the   
floor and popped her bleeding finger into her mouth.   
  
Brown eyes lowered slightly in her direction, and she chuckled. "It still has its swig tag," she lied  
quickly, ignoring the grunt from the plushie as it hit the floor. "And the swig tag got a hold of me."  
  
Touya rolled his eyes before shaking his head. "Whatever," he grunted, turning around. "Library closes  
in ten minutes."  
  
The door shut, and Keroberos immediately popped directly into her vision, causing her to stumble backwards  
in surprise. "Who do ya think you are, mouthin' off like that? You HAVE to complete this mission and get them  
cards back! Do you KNOW what will happen if ya - "  
  
Closing her hand around the creature's face, Sakura lowered her eyes. "Let's get you and this book of   
yours somewhere where we can talk more openly," she growled, stuffing the little orange toy into the book's hole  
along with the single "Windy" card. "We'll discuss this 'capturing' thing back in my dorm."  
  
"But, wait, you - "  
  
The slam of the cover muffled the screams of a Clow guardian as Sakura stuffed the book into her jacket,  
zippered it, and snuck out of special collections.  
  
===  
  
"Okay, one more time?"  
  
Groaning, Keroberos - or "Kero," as he insisted on being called - slammed his head into the side of the  
computer monitor, making the whole thing shake. "I SWEAR, y'all have cotton in your ears!" he hollered at his  
captive audience of teens, his Southern drawl so loud that Sakura feared people in the hallway would hear.   
  
Tomoyo waved a hand, trying to pacify the howling guardian. "I just want to make sure I have it all   
typed out right," she fibbed, her fingers placed on the keyboard, ready for action. A half-empty notebook file  
was open on the screen, with bullet points highlighted along the edge. "After all, if we're going to properly   
document all this, I have to be sure I have it right."  
  
"D-document?" blinked her roommate, staring. "Is this anything like why you're always taking digital   
pictures of me and stuff?"  
  
Purple eyes arched shut in delight. "Kinda, yeah!"   
  
Sakura sighed and hung her head.  
  
"Alright, I'm gonna say this ONE MORE TIME for y'all," sighed Kero, hopping atop the monitor before   
crossing his little arms over his equally minute chest. "My name is Keroberos, and I am the guardian beast of  
the Clow. The Clow is a book of cards, and all of them have lotsa different powers." He gestured toward the   
pendant around Sakura's neck with a rather idle paw. "THAT is the Key of Clow, and it'll go and turn into the   
Staff of Sealin' should you ever need it. And you're gonna need it, 'cause you're the Cardcaptor."  
  
Straightening her reading glasses, the dark-haired one smiled indulgently. "So, then, Sakura has to   
run all over the country and world trying to capture these cards?" she asked, her eyes going starry as she   
spoke. "This will be WONDERFUL! I can video tape Sakura in all sorts of exotic locations, busily - "  
  
"Not quite, no," cut in the guardian with a wag of his paw. "Ya see, them cards are gonna stick near to  
Sakura, seein' as she's the Cardcaptor. They're gonna wanna challenge her, see if she's up to the task of makin'  
them her cards."  
  
Fingering the Key of Clow, Sakura frowned slightly. To think that her stupid legend homework was real!  
It was almost frightening. "And...what if I'm not up to it?" she asked softly, her green eyes rising to look  
into Kero's black beads.   
  
He forced a grin, a grin that said 'Shit, she asked the one question I didn't want to answer.' "Let's   
just go and hope that that kinda thing doesn't go and happen, 'kay?" he suggested, cocking his head to one   
side. "See, if you CAN'T capture the cards, then - "  
  
Suddenly, the room shook as it had been hit by something. Sakura shrieked as she was tossed from her   
seat next to the computer and landed in a heap with Tomoyo. "A Clow Card!" hissed the orange animal, fluttering  
toward the window. "I didn't think they'd go and act this fast!"  
  
"Act HOW fast?" muttered the brunette, clambering to her feet. Outside, she could hear the floor's   
advisor, a normally quiet girl named Naoko, yelling for everyone to calm down. She clutched onto the edge of her  
roommate's desk for support as, carefully, she inched toward the window. The closer she got, the more her eyes  
widened until, finally, her jaw gaped open of its own accord.  
  
Outside, in the midst of the quad, sat an enormous bird, a bird larger than any of the buildings   
surrounding it. Its feathers, so white that they were almost transparent, shone in the early evening light.  
  
The bird unfurled its wings, flapping them gently. The room shook as the wind from under the wings   
slammed into the side of the dorm building.   
  
"That's..." Sakura's jaw moved, trying to form words, but nothing seemed to work correctly.  
  
"Ya gotta go!" announced Kero, grabbing her by a pigtail and dragging her toward the doorway. "That's  
the Fly card!" He grunted in effort as the teen still stood, flabbergasted in front of the window. "If ya don't  
hurry up, it'll go on the offense, and then we'll be SCREWED!"  
  
Blinking, Sakura's eyes lowered at the bird-thing outside her window. She whirled on her heels and stared  
toward her friend, who was busily rooting through her desk drawers for something. "I went and let these stupid  
cards out, and I'm going to make sure they all go back to where there's supposed to be!" she announced, tugging  
the pendant from her neck. "Let's get to it!"  
  
Her guardian beast groaned from where he had been thrown against the wall. "Inna minute..."  
  
As the brunette bent down and tried to reawaken the passed-out plushie, Tomoyo hopped to her feet,   
grinning. "I've got it!" she announced, brandishing a small, black piece of plastic that looked like a piece of  
a model truck.  
  
"What?" questioned her friend as she scooped Kero into her pocket.  
  
"A blank vid-disk for my camcorder!" grinned her roommate as she stuffed the little square into the   
back of her digital video recorder. "Let's roll!"  
  
Sakura did nothing more than groan.  
  
===  
End Chapter 1  
=== 


	3. Chapter 2: The Fight or Flight Mechanism

Wind whipped around her slender form, the already-fallen leaves of autumn flying up from the ground and   
swirling around the young woman with every wing-beat of the giant, white-blue bird. "I take it back!" she   
announced, clutching on to the nearest lamppost. Her jacket, unzipped, was flying behind her as a cape. "I don't  
want to catch the cards, after all!"  
  
"Too bad!" shouted Keroberos angrily, hanging out of her pocket, his tiny voice almost lost to the   
gale-force breeze around him. "You broke it, you bought it, and there ain't nothing you can do about it!"  
  
From her spot across the sidewalk, Tomoyo grinned and pulled her camera from her face, grinning. "You   
look gorgeous with the wind in your hair!" she squealed, not at all noticing that she was starting to be   
pushed along the pavement by the force of the Fly card's flapping wings. "This footage will be PERFECT for my   
video montage that's due at the end of the semester! Absolutely perfect!"  
  
A mutter of "hoe...?" was lost to the wind.  
  
"C'mon, Cardcaptor!" squeaked Kero, hopping out of Sakura's pocket and struggling against the wind so   
he could look her in the eyes. "You NEED to do this! Just take the Key of Clow, say the words of initiation,   
and get on with it!"  
  
The brunette sighed and tugged the pendant from around her neck, letting it settle in the palm of her   
hand. It was almost surprisingly heavy for such a little thing and, the long she looked at it, the more she   
realized that it was speaking to her. Or, if not speaking to her, bringing the realization of words she had   
never before heard to her lips.  
  
Her fingers slipped from the edge of the lamppost as, for a moment, the bird in their midst calmed,   
wings curling gently at its side. Green eyes glazed over, unblinking, as the young woman stared down at the key   
in her hands.  
  
"Say it!" stressed the orange plushie, his black eyes darting back and forth between the giant card and  
the silent student. "We ain't gots much time, ya know!"  
  
"Oh key that hides the power of the dark," began Sakura, her eyelids fluttering shut. The words formed   
on her lips without thought, taking over her body, causing shivers to run up and down her spine. The pendant   
rose from her palm and began to dance on air, twitching ever-so-slightly. Energy, power without form, the likes   
of which she had never experienced, swirled around her, kicking up leaves and dirt. "By the contract, reveal  
thy true form to me. This, Sakura commands!"  
  
Wings lifted as, slowly, the key morphed, becoming a bright pink staff with the same odd, bird's head   
shape on the end of it. "RE - "  
  
A gust of wind picked up suddenly, and - the next she knew - Sakura opened her eyes to find the world   
turned upside down.  
  
"You okay?" gushed Tomoyo, rushing over to the very foot of the technical building's front stairs, where  
her best friend had landed upside-down.  
  
Sakura Kinomoto grunted, glancing at the key that had landed scant inches from her nose.  
  
"I quit," she muttered.  
  
========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
Chapter 2: "The Fight or Flight Mechanism"  
========================  
  
"Okay, let's done try this again," sighed the guardian beast of the Clow, shaking his head slightly. He,  
as well as the brunette cardcaptor and her strange, video-camera-totting roommate, stood in the handicapped   
stall of the women's bathroom. Just outside of that very building, he knew, was a giant bird. And, from what he  
could tell, the Fly hadn't yet decided to take the offensive, because the walls around them still shuddered   
every few seconds.  
  
The room shook, and Kero struggled to remain standing and, therefore, keep himself from sliding into the  
open toilet. "Them words'll come back if ya let 'em!" he encouraged, the squeaky Southern accent seeming a bit  
unusual for a creature called the guardian "beast." "And then, y'all be able to get that there card!"  
  
Green eyes glanced down at the Key of Clow. What kind of crazy dream was this? Sakura wrinkled her nose  
as she held her hands in front of her body, her arms extended to their full length in front of her. "This is  
insane," she muttered irritably, her eyelashes fluttering shut.  
  
Her roommate grinned eagerly. "Sakura is so good for this kind of footage!" she praised, squinting   
through the viewer of her camera to catch every second on vid-disk. "I can't wait to extract digital photos from  
this!"  
  
A brown eyebrow twitched, but it's bearer said nothing.  
  
Another gust of wind slammed into the building, this one with more force that previously. There was a   
splash as the orange guardian beast fell off the edge of the toilet seat and into the cold water below. "Hurry  
up!" he howled, reiterating what he had already said a few hundred times. "The card senses ya! Y'all are SCREWED  
if you don't go and act fast!"  
  
Nodding, the brunette put on the most determined look she could muster, shoving the key in front of her  
body with all her might. "Oh key that hides the power of the dark!" she commanded, her voice echoing through  
the tile-walled room as she spoke. "By the power of our contract, reveal your true form to me! This, Sakura   
commands!"  
  
"It's working!" announced Kero somewhere from beyond the wall of swirling energy. Green eyes popped open  
as the pink, bird-headed staff appeared, and Sakura felt her hand shake. "Take the staff! Become Cardcaptor   
Sakura!"  
  
"RELEASE!"  
  
There was a pressure in the air, like a clap of thunder without any sound, as the college sophomore's  
hand closed around the staff. She flipped it around and over the side of her thumb, twirling it with a foreign  
ease. "Let's go smash some Clow Card!" she declared, turning to rush out the stall.  
  
A thump sounded as she smacked into the closed door. "Sorry!" giggled Tomoyo as she reached down and  
unbolted the lock. "The reflection of the light on the mirrors cast a hideous backlight, and I didn't want to  
ruin the video."  
  
The dripping-wet guardian beast of the Clow eyed her suspiciously. "Y'all are one WEIRD kid."  
  
She smiled and shrugged. "I do what I can."  
  
===  
  
Sakura screamed as she found herself flying through the air and toward the technical building, her   
cardcapturing staff sticking out of a charming pair of pine bushes. She landed on the thick grass of the lawn  
with an audible 'thump,' suddenly glad that she hadn't been three feet more to her right; otherwise, she may  
have very well not lived to tell the tale. "This isn't working!" she announced to her supposed guardian beast,  
watching as he grasped the Staff of Clow in his mouth and brought it toward her, smiling sheepishly. "Your   
suggestions of 'just go and attack the sucker' don't seem to work very well!"  
  
The orange-yellow plushie's smile faded and he said nothing, resigning himself to stare at the nearby   
Clow Card. Moaning slightly, the brunette collapsed back onto the grass and buried her face in her hands.   
Cardcaptor. Yeah, right. A Cardcaptor who had yet to do anything more substantial than be thrown through the  
air by a giant bird and that same bird's giant, windy wing beats. Why, if it wasn't for the wind, she -   
  
"Wind!" she exclaimed softly, dinning into her pockets for a moment and pulling out, of all things,  
the one card that had been left in the bottom of the Clow that very day. "What if I use this?" she questioned,  
wagging the cardboard-weight paper in her guardian's face.  
  
Lighting up like a midnight star, Kero grinned, clasping his paws together in midair. "Yes!" he   
announced happily, bouncing up and down despite the fact that there was no ground for him to use as a springing  
board. "Just tell Windy to - "  
  
"Lift me on the wings of the breeze and deliver me safely to the Fly card!" called the brunette,   
tossing her card into the air before smacking it with the staff. "WINDY!"  
  
A gust of wind took off from the card, but it was a gust of wind with a smiling, female face and   
beautiful yellow-green wings. Wordless, it lifted the teen into the air and brought her hurdling toward the   
giant, winged Clow Card that was still seated in the middle of the quad.  
  
"You IDIOT!" screamed Keroberos until his voice ached, his wings hardly flapping fast enough to carry  
him after his charge. "If ya go and do that, the Fly card is gonna take off!"  
  
There was a flash of pink as Sakura, standing precariously on the wisp of wind, twirled the Staff of   
Clow in her hands as though it was some sort of baton. "Not on this watch, it's not!" she announced, hopping  
off the back of the kind-hearted Windy card as she spoke. Within a breath she was free-falling the seemingly  
endless distance between the sky and the Fly card. "Return to thy true form! Cl - HOE?!" She hit something   
soft and warm with a jarring thud.  
  
Wings flapped, and the next thing she knew, Sakura was in the sky, soaring above the university on the  
back of the enormous Clow Card. "THIS ISN'T HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO GO!" she shrieked, burying her face in the   
feathers as she held on for dear life. Her college was slowly becoming a speck below her, one small dot of   
black and brown across a landscape of trees. "HELP!!!"  
  
"Seal it!" cried a small voice, and she glanced down to see a familiar orange-yellow creature clutching  
onto the tail of the Fly card, his little eyes pressed shut as hard as they could possibly be. "I don't care  
howya do it, just SEAL THIS DAMNED CARD!"  
  
"Right!" Shakily she struggled to her feet, the clouds whipping past her as she rose. "Return to thy   
true form!" she screamed, bringing the beak of her staff down toward the neck of the strange creature. It   
stopped in midair, a small pink rectangle forming where there had previously been nothing else. "Clow CARD!!!"  
  
Energy, orange and pink and purple and blue and every color and none, flowed around her body, warming   
her, bringing a smile to her face and a strange strength to her body. As the energy flowed, a card appeared in  
midair.  
  
The sensations stopped and the card nestled itself between her fingers. "The Fly..." she read aloud,   
a small grin crossing her face. "I actually went and - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
"Use the card!" screamed Kero, his wings tucked close against his body as he followed the brunette in a  
nose-dive aimed at the ground and only the ground. Her scream was so loud that it almost covered up his voice.  
"Use the Fly Card, and QUICK!"  
  
Green eyes peaked open for a moment, as though questioning his authority. Then, in a bolt of inspiration,  
she realized that she really didn't have much a choice in the matter and so she released the card in midair,   
somehow not surprised by the fact that it followed her in her tail-spin toward the fast-approaching ground.   
"FLY!" she commanded, waving her staff randomly in the basic direction of the card.   
  
Suddenly, she wasn't falling anymore. She blinked as she glanced up at the staff, watching as its   
wings flapped idly in the breeze. She frowned slightly as, slowly, she began to descend. "Is that ALL it does?"  
she asked, wrinkling her nose.  
  
Kero groaned, smacking himself in the head with a paw. "Next time you're on a one-way flight down to   
the ground, I ain't givin' you any advise," he muttered.  
  
Sakura scowled up at him, eyes lowering into a glare. "Oh, this is MY fault?" she questioned bitterly,  
her legs swinging in the air as she hung from her Staff of Clow. "If YOU hadn't been sleeping on the job,   
everything would have been just FINE!"  
  
"Oh, it woulda?" he returned angrily, his eyebrow twitching slightly. "Well, if YOU hadn't gone and   
opened MY Clow book in the first place, than the cards wouldnta escaped!"  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"YEAH!"  
  
"Well, at least *I* am not a stuffed TOY!"  
  
"You take that back!"  
  
"Make me!"  
  
"NEVER!"  
  
===  
  
Sakura Kinomoto sighed and shook her head as she walked down the sidewalk, the normal spring in her   
step somehow lost on an otherwise decent autumn morning. The days were really starting to cool down, and - after  
pointing out this supposedly amazing face - Tomoyo had thrust a hand-made jacket into her friend's hands before  
pushing her out of the door and off to her Myths and Legends class. But the jacket, blue with white trim and  
the hand-embroidered initials "SK" on the sleeves, just got tossed over a slender shoulder as she strode back  
from the history building, a frown plastered on her face.  
  
If someone had told her the day before that she would become a magical girl called the Cardcaptor, she  
would have reported them to a mental asylum before laughing her head off. But her brother's old adage had   
finally caught up to her, proving that the truth was, indeed, stranger than fiction. Sighing, she hung her  
head, shaking it miserably. "With my luck," she muttered, wrinkling her nose, "I'm going to end up flunking   
tomorrow's biology exam..."  
  
"Morning, Sakura!" announced a voice, and green eyes rose to see two familiar forms coming toward her.   
She groaned, burying her face in her hands as a blush took over her face. NOW, Touya would have the opportunity  
to quiz her about the missing Clow book in front of her long-time crush! Could this day POSSIBLY get any  
worse?  
  
She stopped just short of Touya and his best friend, smiling charmingly at the latter of the two young  
men. Age twenty-five, Yukito Tsukishiro had been the object of her constant affection since she had met him,  
four years previous. There was something about his laid-back attitude that made him endlessly appealing and -  
as much as she tried to avoid the subject when it came up - his gorgeous brown eyes and charming smile certainly  
didn't detract from her crush, either. Her brother had never asked, though, and she had never told, something  
she was unbelievably grateful for, even IF it was her personal opinion that he knew.  
  
"Hi-ya, Yukito!" she beamed, trying her best to put on a happy face. He smiled back, eyes slanting closed  
behind his wire-rimmed glasses, but she could see her brother make a face. Ignoring it, she pressed on, sticking  
her hands in her back pockets. "How's it going?"  
  
The medical school student shrugged slightly, his face still lit up with a smile. "We were just on our  
way to the Union for brunch," he informed her pleasantly, the mention of food causing his face to brighten   
further. "You want to come?"  
  
Touya snorted, tossing his head of dark hair. "I doubt that monsters eat more than three square meals  
a day," he returned smugly, smirking as he watched his little sister's face redden in complete and total anger.  
"Besides, she should be up in special collections, reading that book of hers again."  
  
"Book?" blinked Yukito. "What book?"  
  
"Eheheheheheheheheheh, yeah, THAT..." drawled Sakura, scratching the back of her neck guiltily. For an  
extremely brief moment, she was obscenely grateful that her brother hadn't noticed the missing volume from the  
room; after all, if no one noticed, then she didn't have to explain away its sudden disappearance. And the longer  
it went unnoticed, the more likely it was that she would get off the hook. "I really SHOULD be working on that  
paper, shouldn't I? Heh, I'm such a slacker..." Her cheeks grew a big ruddy as she made eye contact with the   
still-blinking Yukito. Sighing, she hung her head. "Have a good brunch though..."  
  
Reaching down, the glasses-wearing man ruffled her hair playfully. "Don't worry, Sakura, we'll have a   
good time," he assured her before he started down the sidewalk and toward the Student Union. "Later!"  
  
Touya bopped her playfully on the nose. "Yeah, Monster, we'll have a good time without you," he teased,  
following his friend away.  
  
His sister whirled around on her heels, shaking her fist at his retreating shadow. "You just WAIT,   
Touya!" she threatened, her face twisting into a snarl as she spoke. "One of these days, I'm going to get you  
BACK for all these years of mental anguish, and then you'll be SORRY!"  
  
"What's dat all about?" questioned a bored voice.  
  
Sakura sighed, shaking her head as she turned to head back toward her dorm building. "Eh, my brother is  
an - HOE?!"  
  
Black eyes blinked, and tiny eyebrows knitted together. "Ya brother's a ho?" repeated Kero, cocking his  
head to one side as he floated in midair, scant inches from the girl's nose. "That dun make much sense if you -  
MMPH!"  
  
"You IDIOT!" she hissed, gripping him around the neck as she moved to stuff him into the side pocket   
of her book bag. "Do you WANT people to see you floating around like some sort of magical creature?"  
  
His head popped out of the pocket, and he frowned up at her. "But I AM a magical creature," he insisted,  
sounding quite perplexed by this concept. "In MY day, I could go around and do whatever! I was feared by them   
people of Hong Kong!"  
  
She gaped at him, her lips opening into a tiny 'o' as she gazed down at him. "How would YOU be feared?"  
she inquired, staring back down the twisting path toward her dorm building. "You're nothing more than an orange  
plushie." Pausing to consider this, she snickered slightly, pursing her lips. "Sounds like one of Tomoyo's   
l33t-sp34k t-shirts if you ask me. 'Ph33r the plush13' or something."  
  
"Har har, laugh it up," he returned, wrinkling his nose up at her. "My true form is so super-cool that  
you'd be shakin' in your li'l sneakers if you saw it." He smirked slightly. "You'd prolly run away from me   
faster than you ran from the Fly card, too."  
  
Bopping her guardian beast on his little orange head, she stuck out her tongue at him. "I didn't run  
away," she reminded him matter-of-factly, frowning a bit as she spoke. "I hopped on its back and I nailed the  
sucker! That certainly isn't MY fault." She paused, frowning as she thought about the happenings from the day  
before. "So, Kero, do I have to catch ALL the cards?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow down at the little   
plushie-beast.  
  
The orange-yellow toy considered this before shrugging noncommittally. "Ya gotta catch a whole lotta   
'em," he answered after a pause. "Maybe not all of 'em, but enough that I can release my powers and you can   
become the true Cardcaptor. Then, the others should all kinda follow the lead of the ones you've caught."  
  
"'A whole lotta 'em?'" quoted the brunette, stopping in mid-stride to glance down at him. He giggled   
in embarrassment, face turning just a tad red. "Kero, just how many cards ARE there, total?"  
  
A reply was muttered, but it was much too soft to be heard.  
  
"WHAT?" growled the girl, picking him up by one of his round little ears and dangling him in front of   
her face. "HOW many cards, Kero?"  
  
"....fifty-three..."  
  
"FIFTY THREE CLOW CARDS?" the brunette howled, shaking him violently by the ear as she blinked dubiously  
at him. "His teeth rattled together as he flapped back and forth in the air. "How in the name of HELL do you - "  
  
She froze, blinking in confusion for a moment. "I feel strange..." she muttered, letting Kero go as she  
moved to slowly examine the area around her. They were on a rather deserted stretch of sidewalk, which cut  
through a grove of trees before coming out in front of the stretch of dormitories. A shiver ran up her spine  
as she glanced around, peering between trees and through shadows, in search of...something. For some reason, she  
couldn't figure out what it was.  
  
Clambering to his feet with a groan, Kero blinked. "A Clow Card!" he exclaimed, hopping up into the air  
to hover near the brunette's shoulder. "Ya musta got some real good magic powers from somewhere ifya can sense  
a card already!"  
  
"A...card?" Sakura frowned, her fingers moving to clasp around the Key of Clow. Another shiver, this  
one more powerful than the first. "Where is it, then?"  
  
Black eyes lowered, peering into the grove of trees that were clumped next to the walkway. "I know that  
ya ain't gonna wanna hear this, Sakura," he breathed, wings flapping idly as he stared into the shadows, "but  
it's in there."  
  
Sakura moaned, smacking herself in the forehead. "Yeah, of COURSE it would be hiding in a grove of   
maples! Why NOT?" She sighed and pulled the Key of Clow from around her neck, pausing to glower down at the   
little, floating plushie. "You know, when I DO catch all these cards, I think I'm going to use one or two of   
them on you. Are there any 'instant death' cards in the deck?"  
  
"Har," growled the guardian beast irritably, wrinkling his tiny nose. "Just release the staff and let's  
go. The card dun seem to've sensed ya yet, which means ya might catch it before it knows you're here."  
  
"Right!" agreed the brunette. There was a breath of wind and flash of light as her lips formed into the  
familiar incantation, the chant that would release the Staff of Clow and allow her to seal the Clow card. "Let's  
go!"  
  
And with that, the cardcaptor and her guardian beast plunged into the darkness of the trees, the sunlight  
locked out of view and leaving them with nothing more than shadows.  
  
===  
  
"She seemed really detached during class," sighed Chiharu Mihara, toying idly with the end of her braid  
as she spoke. Bright brown eyes glanced up and down the nearly-abandoned hallway, studying the dull brown-red  
floor tiles with a certain concerned idleness. "When Professor Terada went around and asked how our papers were  
going, her face went totally pale, and she freaked out." The brunette's nose wrinkled as she glanced across  
the hall and toward the other girl, her next-door neighbor on the floor. "Do you know what's up, Rika?"  
  
Rika Sasaki shrugged noncommittally, leaning up against the wall as she shook her head slightly. "To be  
honest, Yoshiyuki really didn't tell me anything, and I even went through the trouble of asking him about it."  
She wrinkled her nose, toying idly with the gold ring she wore on her left hand. "I know that he did purposely  
give her that legend as a challenge, but I don't think he knows what to make of her complete and utter panic."  
  
Two sets of eyes glanced toward the third young woman in the hallway, who had been busily pasting   
pictures of her roommate to their door before the conversation had started. The gaze made her flush slightly,   
but - somehow - she managed to paste a smile to her pale face. "Who're we talking about?" questioned Tomoyo   
Daidouji as she pocketed her roll of masking tape. She did her best to look charmingly confused. "Anyone I know?"  
  
"Only your roommate," responded the duel-braided girl with a roll of her eyes. "You're her best friend  
in the WORLD, Tomoyo. Spill."  
  
Cursing all the powers that were and THEN a few, the dark-haired girl shrugged her shoulders and screwed  
her face into a sorry little expression. "I wish I could say I really knew," she returned, hoping she sounded  
at least a BIT uninformed. "I know that she's been struggling with the project, but I think the only one NOT  
struggling with the project is Rika, and that's because she's got all the insider's help she needs."  
  
"Tomoyo!" blushed the auburn-haired beauty, her face turning bright, bright red as she hollered at the  
girl who lived across the hall. "Yoshiyuki would NEVER give me extra help on a project like that! He has morals  
and values!"  
  
"Maybe he wouldn't give you HELP," smirked Chiharu, winking at her friend, "but, since he IS your fiancé  
and all - he just might give you an easier topic. Didn't you say that your myth is on the birth of the Greek   
Goddess Athena?"  
  
Rika's face drained of all color as soon as the words escaped her friend's lips and, for a long moment,  
she stood dumbfounded against the wall, her lips moving and trying to make their way into coherent words. "I...  
Well... You see..."  
  
She was STILL stammering for the right words as Tomoyo closed herself in her bedroom, giggling.  
  
===  
  
"I don't see anything that COULD be a Clow Card," complained Sakura idly as she moved to plop down on  
a toppled-over tree trunk. The little patch of woods was deeper than she had remembered it ever being and - as   
if that wasn't enough trouble in and of itself - the thick green foliage above cut off almost all the sunlight  
there was to be had, leaving them in the shadows. "But, at the same time, I still FEEL it."  
  
Nodding, Kero landed lightly beside her before collapsing into a pile of wings and feet. "I dunno WHAT'S  
goin' on in here," he admitted, his voice weary with defeat as he laid on the moss-covered log. "I can FEEL the  
card, but I can't see it, and - to make matters WORSE - all them there leaves are makin' it awfully hard to see  
anythin'!"  
  
The brunette sighed, closing her eyes as she did so. Why had she taken that stupid Myths and Legends   
course in the first place? It wasn't a required course for history majors, it was an ENGLISH class! Chiharu   
had even suggested she NOT take it; despite everything his fiancée claimed, Professor Yoshiyuki Terada was   
strict, picky, and sometimes even mean-spirited. And the fact that he constantly gave his nineteen-year-old   
wife-to-be all the perks and pleasures didn't make him any easier to take in.  
  
Still, the topic had intrigued her, and her stupid English-teacher brother HAD assured her that, yes, it  
was really a WAS a good class, as long as Terada was allowed to think you had potential. All you needed, after  
all, was potential.  
  
Somehow, being late to class diminished potential. Sakura sighed and rolled her green eyes, glancing up   
at the foliage above her. The leaves were thick and large, beautiful really, not yet turning to the browns  
and golds of the leaves around them...  
  
She frowned. "Hey, Kero?" she questioned, pursing her lips.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Is there a 'tree' card in this Clow of yours?"  
  
"Of COURSE!" exclaimed the orange bear-cat, suddenly hopping up and flapping his wings furiously. "It's  
gotta be the Wood card!" He grinned up at her, his little black eyes slanting shut in delight. "Ya seem to be  
gettin' the hang of this pretty fast, kiddo."  
  
Ignoring his comment, the brunette seized her staff in her hand, twirling it briefly like a baton before  
raising it high over her head. "Return to thy true form! Clow CARD!"  
  
After a few seconds of light, energy, and swirling winds, light burst into the grove of trees, peaking  
through the branches above and shining down on the girl and her guardian.  
  
"Yeah, Sakura, rock ON!" cheered Keroberos happily. "Next thing ya know, you'll be the TRUE cardcaptor!"  
  
Rolling her green eyes, she shook her head. "Or I'll die trying, right?" she questioned, cocking an   
eyebrow at him.  
  
Kero chuckled and forced a grin. "Not REALLY," he responded guiltily. "Maimed, bloodied, toothless,  
maybe, but NOT dead."  
  
"Grrrrrrrrreat."  
  
===  
End Chapter 2. 


	4. Chapter 3: The Assistant Hall Advisor

The familiar, half-cold water of the community showers ran in rivulets off her bare skin as she reached  
forward to shut off the faucet. The tile floor was cold against her bare feet, the air crisp as she rubbed her  
enormous fluffy towel over her body, buffing it dry. "It's going to be another cold one," she thought aloud,  
tucking the towel around her lithe form before she ventured out of the shower stall.  
  
Normally, Sakura was not a beast borne of vanity, but somehow she couldn't help but glance at herself  
in the mirror this time around. Messy brown bangs, bangs she had never really bothered to tease or play with,  
hung heavily in big green eyes. Her shoulder-length tresses were heavy with water, hanging straight around the  
edges of her face before falling onto her still-damp skin. She frowned, pausing to finger-comb her hair idly.  
Why was it that she couldn't catch Yukito's attention long enough to get him to date her? She was pretty enough;  
not gorgeous, of course, but definitely not bad looking. Chiharu had her sarcastic tease of boyfriend, Takashi,  
and - though Sakura would never, EVER admit it aloud - he wasn't all that bad. Sure, he joked around a lot and  
played with the more gullible members of society, but... He wasn't TERRIBLE. And Rika, dear, sweet Rika, she   
was lucky enough to have a fiancé. Granted, that fiancé was the masochistic and EVIL Professor Terada, but he   
WAS a fiancé, nonetheless.  
  
"I'm so pathetic," laughed the brunette to herself as she started down the hallway, still bundled in her  
towel. Her slippers scuffed loudly against the tile floor. "I don't want a real man, I want some sort of   
unobtainable ideal!" She rolled her eyes as she reached for her own doorknob, terribly thankful that she and   
Tomoyo lived in the all-girls wing of their dormitory building. Only occasionally did a male wander into the   
hallway, and generally that male was Takashi, anyway, so it didn't really matter that much.   
  
That is way it came as a shock when Yukito and Touya both turned to look at her as she walked into her  
own bedroom, dressed only in a towel.  
  
Sakura shrieked, turning bright red as she realized that, yes, her older brother and her older brother's  
best friend were sitting on her bed, and yes, they were BOTH STARING DIRECTLY AT HER HALF-CLOTHED BODY. Her   
shriek was loud enough that it caused Tomoyo - whose back was half-turned toward the doorway - to give a start  
and tug off her headphones. "Whoa, down girl," she commanded as she watched her friend try to hide in her   
nearby closet. "It's just your brother and..." She frowned as soon as she remembered that, yes, Yukito was in   
the room. "Uhm, they wanted to come see you?"  
  
"Why would anyone care what a monster like you looks like, anyway?" snorted the dark-haired man with  
a roll of brown eyes, but his sister was CERTAIN that the hints of a blush had crossed his cheeks. "But, just  
to appease you, we'll turn around. Right, Yuki?"  
  
Yukito smiled charmingly, his normal, pleasant visage showing no sign of embarrassment or repulsion as  
he turned his face toward the wall.   
  
Grumbling, the brunette pulled a random pair of pants and an equally random t-shirt from the pile of  
folded clothes that, the day before, she had tossed on the floor of her closet. "What brings you two here,   
anyway?" she inquired bitterly, shaking her wet hair free of her neck hole as she struggled with the jeans.  
Since when had her jeans been so tight, anyway? Curse Tomoyo and her homemade cookies! "And shouldn't you be  
at work, Touya?"  
  
"As much as I would rather be there than here, the water main in the library broke in two places," sighed  
her brother, his voice hinting at just a bit of irritation. "And, anyway, I need my key back before someone  
notices I'm missing it." He turned around to glance at his sister just as she was pulling her hairbrush through  
her tresses for the final time. "Where did you - "  
  
A giggle. It was subtle, hardly audible, but it turned quickly into guffaws as Touya slid off his   
younger sister's bed and onto the floor, clutching his stomach as he laughed.   
  
Brown eyes blinked as Yuki turned his head toward Sakura, wondering what was so funny. His pale lips  
curved slowly into a goofy grin as he gave the younger female a quick once-over. "That's certainly an...  
interesting...choice of garb...Sakura," he chortled, obviously trying his best NOT to end up like Touya.  
  
"My shirt!" announced Tomoyo, the most horrified look on her face as she hopped up from her seat and  
rushed to stand next to her friend. "I was wondering where that went!"  
  
A frown crossed pink lips as Sakura glanced down at the pink letters that ran across the chest of her  
t-shirt.  
  
The word "r4ck3d" stared back up at her.  
  
========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
Chapter 3: "The Assistant Hall Advisor"  
========================  
  
Once the key had been exchanged and the males pushed out of the tiny room and out on their marry way,  
Sakura collapsed on her bed with a groan. "I don't BELIEVE you, Tomoyo!" she moaned, her voice hardly audible  
as she buried her face in her pillow. "I told you I was going to take a shower, remember?"  
  
"I remember," sighed the graphic designer as she straddled her chair, frowning slightly, "but I didn't  
figure on you coming in here in a towel." She paused, wrinkling her nose a bit. "Then again, what's the point  
of freaking out about a towel? It's not like you were showing off anything they can't see just by looking at  
you normally."  
  
From his spot on the dresser, Kero glanced up from the copy of "Good Housekeeping" he'd smuggled in from  
the main lounge and shrugged his little, stuffed-toy shoulders. "Not like it matters none, anyway," he snickered,  
glancing toward the brunette for the reaction he was trying to rouse. "After all, Yuki's door ain't swingin'   
the right way, if ya catch my drift."  
  
"KERO!" shrieked the girl on the bed, hopping up immediately. "You take that back, right now! There is  
NO way that Yukito could conceivably be gay!" She paused as she said this, as though it really did make a bit  
of sense. That thought passed rather quickly and she tossed her head, screwing her face into a rather angry   
scowl as she glowered at the little beast. "He is NOT!" she decided rather loudly. "After all, who would he  
be sleeping with, huh? My BROTHER?"  
  
Her dark-haired friend considered this, pursing her lips in thought. "You KNOW, Sakura," she noted   
aloud, her brow furrowed slightly, "that really WOULD make a lot of sense, now that you've mentioned it. I mean,  
they live in the same apartment and they spend a lot of...eh....eheh..." The angry, almost vengeful look on her  
friend's face caused her to trail off. "Then again, heh, I do live with you and that doesn't mean that WE'RE  
gay, right?"  
  
This sent Keroberos into a round of giggles so severe that he rolled off the dresser top. Tomoyo   
snarled and tossed one of her slippers at him. "I was SERIOUS!" she insisted, annoyed at the little beast's   
laughter.  
  
"And who's to say I wasn't, hmm?" questioned the stuffed animal through his laughter. "After all, Tomoyo,  
I think we ALL know that - "  
  
"Sakura?" The door cracked open, and it was all Kero could do to stop in his jabbering and fall face-  
first onto the carpet. Into the dorm room walked Naoko Yanagisawa, the mousy brunette girl who acted as the  
hall advisor.  
  
The room's two inhabitants both paled as soon as the door began to open, and, giggling, Sakura moved  
to kick the innocent-looking "plush toy" under her bed. "Hi-ya, Naoko!" she chirped, green eyes slanting closed  
as she smiled charmingly at the newcomer. "What can I do for you today?"  
  
Frowning slightly, Naoko wrinkled her tiny nose. Despite her reputation of being slightly on the   
stingy end of things, she was a very effective "Hall Marm" when it came down to it. "I need to go down to the  
library," she sighed, shaking her head. "Seems that there's some sort of emergency with the climate control,  
and so they've called all the hall advisors in to move the books to a safer location." Her scowl deepened as   
she considered her own words. "Honestly, I don't know where the safer location will be; the water mains on the  
first level are the ones that broke, but there's some sort of condensation coming from the special collections  
room, too!"  
  
"Clow card!" announced a tiny voice, almost muffled enough to be ignored.  
  
Blinking brown eyes, Naoko eyed her two hall mates. "What was that?" she asked, glancing toward the   
dust ruffle on Sakura's bed.  
  
With elaborate and over-done gestures, Tomoyo patted her chest, HARD, and pretended to hack up a lung.   
"Wow, I don't know WHAT that was," she choked, clearing her throat as she spoke. "I guess the cafeteria food  
got to me..."  
  
"We'll go to the library instead!" announced Sakura eagerly, lunging toward the closet as she spoke.  
The hall advisor gave a start and stepped out of the way, blinking down at the other girl as she struggled to   
pull on her sneakers without unlacing them. "You're so busy, being a double major and everything! You don't  
have time to move books! But I'm the assistant Hall Advisor, and I know that WE have the time!"  
  
Her roommate scowled. "Uhm, I have a graphic design project due tomorrow, you - "  
  
"Good! I'm glad you're with me!" growled Sakura, tossing her friend's camera bag at her. Tomoyo shrieked  
and caught it effortlessly, but there was something about the expression on her face that stated her want to   
throw her roommate against the wall and beat some sense into her. Still, the brunette pressed on, running over  
to the edge of her bed as she made a show of grabbing a large tote-bag out from under it. "And who knows? Maybe  
we'll fix the water mains and stuff! Hehehehehehehee...."  
  
Naoko frowned slightly as the other sophomore started out the door. "Well, alright..." she acquiesced,   
following her friends out into the hallway as she spoke. "But be sure to check in at the desk on my behalf. I   
don't want to get put on restriction because I don't show, and - "  
  
"Yeah, yeah, we'll be FINE!" waved Sakura as she turned her back and started down the hall and toward  
the stairs, Tomoyo in tow. "Don't worry a thing about it!"  
  
As soon as they turned the corner and were out of the RA's line of vision, the brunette's massive canvas  
bag stirred and an orange head popped out of it. "Good goin', Sakura!" cheered Keroberos, his little eyes   
slanting into a smile. "You got outta that like a pro!"  
  
Head hanging down to her chest, the dark-haired girl of the trio sighed remorsefully. "I have a graphic  
design project due tomorrow," she muttered in defeat, following her friend down the stairs as she continued to  
gripe about her sorry state. "It's an important project, and I have to get it done..."  
  
Sakura paused in mid-step, causing her best friend to slam into her. Green eyes sparkled as she gazed  
up at the other girl, and she managed to allow a sad smile to cross her lips. "I'm sorry, Tomoyo," she   
apologized, reaching up to pat her friend on the shoulder. "If there's anything I can do to make it up to you,  
I will. Promise."  
  
Purple eyes glimmered. "PROMISE?" repeated the fair-skinned girl, clasping her roommate's hand in her  
own. "Absolutely, POSITIVELY promise?"  
  
"Uhmm.... Yeah?"   
  
"Good!"   
  
Sakura nearly fell over as she was dragged down the stairway by her best friend.  
  
===  
  
"Uhm... Remember when I promised to do anything?"  
  
There was a soft buzzing, so quiet that it could be hardly heard, as pale fingers pressed down on the   
"Zoom In" button on a familiar digital camcorder. "What about it?" questioned Tomoyo eagerly, her smile   
broadening as she further focused on her best friend.   
  
"I DIDN'T MEAN THIS!"  
  
Pulling the camera lens away from her eye, the dark-haired girl gave the other a quick once-over.   
Sakura was dressed in a skin-tight leather mini-skirt with a leopard-print tank top. Not that it really mattered  
what kind of sleeves the top had, considering the fact that, over it all, she was wearing an ankle-length   
black jacket. For a long moment, Tomoyo stared at her friend, considering the situation carefully. And then,  
she shrugged. "You're right," she admitted with a small shrug, bringing the camera back her eye as the elevator  
slowly came to a halt on the sixth floor. "The jacket COULD stand to be a few inches shorter."  
  
As the brunette slumped across the back wall of the elevator, muttering something, the doors slowly  
crept open and the floor came into view. A thin, damp mist wafted into the elevator chamber. Green eyes   
fluttered open and the Cardcaptor hopped onto the carpeting. "Hoe?!" she exclaimed, glancing around the room.  
Nothing but clouds and a slight...drizzle? She frowned slightly. "This ISN'T a climate control issue, is it?"  
  
"It's a Clow Card, alright," nodded Kero, floating idly above her shoulder as he spoke. "The Rain card.  
Pretty easy, I'm thinkin.'"  
  
She eyed him curiously, as though she was almost afraid to consider a Clow Card "easy." "Define that  
word," she requested rather dully, her face a mask of skepticism as she spoke.   
  
Kero gritted his teeth, as though he hadn't thought about this. "Uhmm..... Not hard?" he chuckled   
guiltily. When her eyes lowered in his direction he backed up slightly, chortling in embarrassment. "Don't  
worry 'bout it!" he stressed with the wave of a paw. "Nothin' bad's gonna happen!" he insisted rather loudly,  
his optimism seeming to fade with every few syllables. "Thinka the Fly card! Was that so hard?"  
  
Green eyes lowered, and he sunk a few feet closer to the ground as he remembered the teen's near-death  
experience that was falling from the sky after riding briefly on the back of a giant blue-white bird. "Fine,  
prove me wrong," he grunted.  
  
"I think I will." Despite the carefree choice of words, Sakura's voice was completely without humor as  
she ventured into the thick fog, the outrageously tall shelves stretching into what seemed to be the sky.   
Thick clouds enveloped the ceiling, obliterating it from view and obscuring the familiar fluorescent shine of  
the overhead lights. Her huge rubber-soled boots, courtesy of Tomoyo, plodded on the carpeting as she   
carefully paced toward the special collections room. Behind her, she was somewhat aware of the sound of Tomoyo's  
flip flops as she followed them through the stacks, video camera in tow.  
  
If the floor itself was covered with only a fine mist, the special collections room was downright foggy.  
"Looks more like the Fog card to me," muttered the cardcaptor irritably, her grip on her Staff of Clow tightening  
as she took her first step into the dense clouds. "Still, I can feel it..."  
  
There was a chuckle, and she glanced up to see a what looked like a little child sitting on a cloud,  
smiling happily. But the cloud was pouring rain down upon the carpeting, soaking it completely through.  
  
"It's so cute!" cooed Tomoyo from behind her camera, zooming in on the card intently. "I think this   
Rain card is my favorite, Sakura!"  
  
"Grrrrrrrrrrrreat," muttered the brunette with a roll of her eyes. Then, effortlessly, she flipped a   
card out of her pocket and tossed it into the air, somehow not surprised when it suspended itself before her   
instead of falling down to the dampened carpeting. "Become the chain that binds!" she commanded, bringing her   
staff down onto the card. "Windy!"  
  
There was a flash of light as the Windy erupted from her card and rushed forward, tendrils of green-white  
wind curling forward. The Rain card's little eyes widened as it realized that, yes, the Windy had every   
intention of capturing the other card and, no, there was nowhere to run. The tentacle-like spirals of wind   
wrapped tightly around both the cloud and the little child atop the cloud, binding them in place.   
  
A pink staff swirled as Sakura stepped forward, glaring at the Rain card. "Return to your true form!  
Clow CARD!"  
  
Familiar colors and energies flickered around her as, slowly but surely, the Rain card - pouting the   
entire time - disintegrated into the form of a Clow Card. Sighing, the brunette stepped forward and seized it  
out of the air before it could fall onto the soaked carpeting and, therefore, be utterly and completely ruined  
by the Rain's childish sense of troublemaking. "One down," she muttered with a roll of her eyes, tucking the  
card into her jacket pocket. "Where next?"  
  
"Main level," sighed Kero, landing lighting on one of the special collections desks, hands on his little  
plushie-hips as he spoke. "Isn't that where Naoko said the trouble was?"  
  
"Sakura?" There was a squeak as the orange toy fell over, black eyes going glossy as he morphed into   
what could be called "stuffed toy" mode. The brunette jumped a mile into the air and whirled around on her heel  
to see her older brother standing in the doorway, blinking brown eyes in her direction. "What in the WORLD are  
you doing here?"  
  
Blushing a deep shade of crimson, the young woman chuckled guiltily and moved to scratch the back of her  
neck. "Naoko was too busy to come here and help move books, so I came instead," she lied, her hands trembling  
as she felt herself being completely and totally examined. "I got confused, though, and I ended up here, and,  
wouldn't you know it? I found the climate control panel and I fixed the problem!"  
  
Touya Kinomoto wrinkled his nose, as though he didn't believe what was coming out of his sister's mouth.  
"You found the climate control panel?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. Her face turned more and more ruddy  
with every syllable. "I've worked here for a year, and I don't even know where it is."  
  
"Oh, Sakura is VERY smart!" stressed Tomoyo suddenly, cutting into the conversation suddenly. The   
graduate student turned and gaped at her, as if he hadn't realized she, dressed in a pair of khakis and her   
favorite "ph33r m3" t-shirt, was there at all. "She found it right away! I think all the studying she's been   
doing up here has really paid off!"  
  
There was a snicker from somewhere beyond Sakura, and it was all the brunette could do to grimace before  
her brother's eyes turned to focus on the discarded, belly-up stuffed toy. "You brought your stuffed animal  
to the Special Collections with you?" he questioned coolly, gaze not wavering in the least. She chuckled, and  
managed to force a smile. "And isn't that the same stuffed doll that freaked you out in the first place?"  
  
"What do you know?" squeaked his sister, grabbing her "stuffed toy" and slamming it into a pocket as  
she did so. "Now, uhm, I would really LOVE to stay and chat, but I PROMISED Naoko that we would do a good job  
with this book-moving business, so we're off to go downstairs and, uhm, move those books!" Seizing Tomoyo  
by the arm, she took off across the soggy carpeting, waving a hasty goodbye to her sibling. "Be sure to lock  
up when you're done!"  
  
Her brother watched her leave, his eyebrows creasing together even as the elevator doors slid shut behind  
her lithe form. "Sometimes..." he commented to himself, lips pursed in thought. "Sometimes, I really worry about  
that girl."  
  
===  
  
Sakura slumped across the back of the elevator as soon as the doors closed, resigning herself to do  
nothing more but sigh and shake her head. "Why?" she muttered to herself, eyes fluttering closed as she resigned  
herself to despair. "Why does he always show up at the stupidest times?"  
  
"You have to admit, it's a strange coincidence," nodded Tomoyo idly, toying with the velcro strip on   
the handhold of her camera as she spoke. "I guess it's just one of those funky things." She paused and glanced  
away from her recorder, cocking her head slightly. "Didn't you say once that your brother has some sort of   
supernatural thing going on?"  
  
"What?!" There was a rustle as Kero burst out of the coat pocket, blinking black eyes at the two females  
in the elevator. "Sakura, your bro's got magic, too?"  
  
Frowning slightly, she shrugged, a slightly noncommittal look crossing her face as she considered it. "I  
don't think it's really magic," she sighed, pursing her lips in thought as she spoke. The subject of her   
brother's 'powers,' as her father had often nicknamed them, was never a pleasant one. At least, it was never a   
subject she was comfortable with. The fact of the matter was that, sometimes, her brother saw things that most  
people couldn't see; the image of their mother nursing his sick sister back to health, perhaps, or the image  
of a dead man giving his wife a kiss on the cheek at the cemetery whenever they visited their mother's grave.  
Her father had often said it was a rare gift that their late mother had left him, the gift of seeing those   
things that most people overlooked. It wasn't that normal people couldn't see them, but that they didn't   
try to.  
  
The elevator shuddered to a stop, and she blinked, realizing at the last second that she had completely  
and totally zoned out. "Sorry," she apologized, glancing down at her steel-toed platform boots as the doors  
slowly slid open. "I just kinda got lost in my own..."  
  
Her voice escaped her as she looked upon what had once been the main level of the library. The carpeting  
was soaked completely through with a shallow layer of fresh water resting atop it, a layer that was nearly-level  
with the lowest-most book shelves. Here and there, Hall Advisors and other various people bustled around,   
scooping entire stacks of books onto carts before pushing said carts into the other elevator and moving them   
upstairs.  
  
"Sakura!" called a voice, and green eyes blinked as Rika rushed forward, her fiancé in tow. The brunette  
blushed as soon as she saw the familiar face of her dreaded Myths and Legends teacher, but he somehow seemed  
much happier on the arm of his sophomore bride-to-be than he did standing in front of a class of twenty. Rika  
sloshed to a halt in front of her friend and frowned, watching as Tomoyo followed her into the sopping-wet   
library floor. "Where's Naoko?"  
  
Perpetuating another lie, just because of the stupid Clow Cards. Sakura sighed and resisted the urge  
to drown herself in the three inches of water that flowed freely across the saturated carpeting. "She was really  
busy," she fibbed, watching as Tomoyo surveyed the area with her video camera, capturing every detail on digital  
film. "So Tomoyo and I volunteered to come down here and help."  
  
Professor Terada smiled charmingly. "That's very noble of you, Miss Kinomoto," he nodded, as though his  
words were all the support she needed in the world. His student resisted the urge to fall over, dead, on the  
floor. After all, what would Rika think of such a reaction? She certainly would not be too pleased.  
  
"Thanks," she forced, once again grasping Tomoyo firmly by the elbow and beginning to drag her toward  
the most secluded area - a group of bookshelves that had already had their bottom-most shelves emptied. "We'll  
be seeing you! So long!"  
  
As soon as the happy - if perplexed - couple wandered off, Sakura sighed and banged her head against  
a metal shelf. "They're really going to start wondering about us," she muttered irritably, ignoring Kero as   
he popped out of her pocket and perched himself atop a volume of Dickens. "I swear, someday, I'm going to have a  
word with Terada and it's NOT going to be pretty."  
  
"We've gots bigger fish to fry, girly," shot the guardian beast, his Southern lilt commanding as he  
rested his little paws on his equally tiny hips. "The Watery Card is here, an' it ain't gonna be pretty in your  
library if we dun catch it, like, yesterday."  
  
"Do this, do that, do the next thing," groused the Cardcaptor known as Sakura Kinomoto as she tugged  
her key from her pocket. It weighed heavily in her hand, a weight she wasn't really comfortable with, a weight  
that, honestly, she didn't like being responsible for. Sighing, she seat the key in her palm and shook her head.  
"When I'm done with this, and I've collected all the cards," she vowed, "I'm going to go back to my normal   
little way of life and forget this whole thing ever happened. RELEASE!"  
  
Energy flooded the area between the stacks as, magically, the Staff of Clow appeared just beyond   
Sakura's grasp. Her face became a mask of determination as she grabbed it and twirled it between to of her   
fingers. "I can feel the card nearby," she breathed, her grip tightening on the staff as, slowly, she began to  
walk toward the back-most wall of the room, "but I can't be certain."  
  
Kero nodded, taking to flight after a cautious look down the stacks. "We can't be too showy, y'all,"  
he pointed out, as if it was a sentiment that really needed pointed out in the first place. "There are a   
mighty lot of peeps around."  
  
"But we can't be so casual, either!" put in Tomoyo as she stopped mid-step and pulled the video recorder  
from her face. "The fact of the matter is that Sakura is now actually a magical girl! She has to have a super-  
secret pose she makes before she vanquishes her enemies, or else she cannot succeed!"  
  
Green eyes blinked, and rubber-soled boots halted. Slowly, VERY slowly, the brunette turned around,   
eyeing her friend cautiously. "Tomoyo..." she drawled, voice almost trailing completely off. "Were you watching  
Sailor Moon again?"  
  
Shaking her long, dark hair, the other college sophomore smiled triumphantly. "Tokyo Mew Mew!" she  
chirped, repositioning her camera as she spoke. "It's like the new Sailor Moon, and it's CUTE!"  
  
Sakura sighed and shook her head, turning back around. Why in the world did she -  
  
"SAKURA! HELP!"   
  
The brunette was able to whirl around just in time to see Tomoyo fall backwards onto the watery carpet  
with a soft splash. Her hands flew up as she dropped her camera and grasped onto the edging of one of the   
shelves. Where her feet had been - SHOULD have been, noted Sakura as she rushed toward her best friend - was  
a whirl pool, pulling her slowly under. "Is that it?" questioned the cardcaptor as she hopped over the pool  
and managed to land on the other side with an audible splash.  
  
"Yuppers!" chimed Kero. "Ya gotta get it to take it's true form, though! Otherwise, it ain't gonna be   
catchable!"  
  
Sakura groaned some sort of affirmative as she discarded her wand and grasped onto her friend's wrists.  
Grunting, she tugged Tomoyo's arms, trying desperately to counteract the force of the whirlpool. But every   
tug failed and, slowly, the dark-haired girl found herself submerged from the waist down.  
  
"Let go!" commanded Tomoyo sternly, struggling against her friend's force as she thrashed into the   
whirlpool. "I'll be fine!"  
  
"No way!" Her companion moaned softly as she reached for her wand. Catching it with the very ends of her   
fingers, she managed to knock it off the nearby shelf and into the water. "Reverse the direction of this   
whirlpool! WINDY!"  
  
There was a burst of light as the Windy erupted from her card and dove into the whirlpool, pushing  
against the current with all its might. Suddenly, the dark-haired girl was tossed violently from the water,  
nearly tumbling heels-over-head into her roommate's lap. From the water on the floor came streams of bright blue,  
followed closely by an elf-eared creature that looked something like mermaid. But mermaid or not, it was mad,  
and immediately took off down through the stacks.  
  
Sakura acted on impulse, tossing out the Fly card and activating it without a second thought. "Come  
back here!" she screamed after it, the long flaps of her jacket hanging over the edge of her staff as she   
chased down the mischievous card.  
  
"No!" hollered Keroberos, his wings flapping crazily as he attempted to follow his charge with very   
little avail. "Ya can't just follow it! What if we get caught?"  
  
The staff made a sharp left, trailing the Clow card out of the stacks and into the abandoned, book-  
filled teacher's lounge. "What else CAN I do?" she responded tersely, ignoring the crash that emanated from  
the Watery overturning an immense table covered in books. "I have to catch the card before it floods the whole  
building!"  
  
Her coat was almost caught in the fire door as the card took off up the stairwell, its potential   
captor in hot pursuit. "Maybe so," shot back the enraged guardian, now huffing and puffing for each breath in  
his chase, "but don'tcha think that a few ruined books is a better loss than your HIDE?"  
  
"It's all relative," grunted the young woman as she shimmied through the quickly-slamming fire door  
to the sixth floor, her eyes lowering as she continued the high-speed chase. "All I have to do is corner it...  
I know!"  
  
Pulling the Windy card back out of her pocket, she bit her lower lip. The special collections door  
still stood wide open, undoubtedly left as so by her brother as he attempted to clean up the Rain's mess.   
Would the Watery take the bait, though? Would it see that there was no way out of that room but the front door?  
  
A tight curve, and the Watery dove into the special collections room, headed toward the back most   
corner. "Blow shut the door to special collections!" screamed Sakura, tossing the card out into the open.  
"WINDY!"  
  
There was a gust of wind, and the Watery splashed into the closed glass door just a moment too late.  
  
A water-logged, exhausted Sakura Kinomoto sighed and hung her head, eyelids suddenly very heavy as she  
picked up the discarded Windy and tucked it back into her pocket. "Capturing cards is hard work," she muttered  
as she raised her staff before the glass, ready to bring it down in the direction of the distraught Watery   
card. "I'm already too old for this, and I've been at it for, what, two days?" She shook her head. "Return  
to your true form, Clow Card."  
  
The enraged, disappointed card closed its eyes, and it therefore came as no surprise when the light   
died down and the card itself, nothing more that a slip of thick paper, slid under the door and levitated itself  
into Sakura's waiting hands.  
  
"And here, I thought monsters didn't strike the same place twice," snickered a voice. Whirling around,  
the brunette came face-to-t-shirt with the familiar form of her older brother, and she scowled at his familiar,  
bemused chuckling. "What are you doing back up here, anyway? Hunting more stuffed toys?"  
  
She scowled, a low growl developing in the back of her throat. "One of these days, Touya, I am SO going  
to - "  
  
"Teasing again?" chuckled another male's voice, and green eyes went wide as Yukito Tsukishiro stepped  
out from behind a stack of books, smiling in his kind-hearted way. The brunette's face turned BRIGHT red as   
she realized he had heard their whole conversation, threat and all. "Really, Touya, you have a sweet and   
pretty sister! Why on Earth would you pester her, so?"  
  
His friend shrugged noncommittally, hands in his pockets. "She's a monster," he responded, unimpressed  
by Yukito's attempt at diplomacy. "How else do you explain her disposition?"  
  
The elevator bell rang merrily and Tomoyo rushed out, her soggy clothes dripping all over. "Sakura!"  
she scowled, completely ignoring the two males as she went to stand nose-to-nose with her best friend and   
roommate. "You KNOW I wanted that footage! How DARE you!"  
  
Sakura gritted her teeth and chuckled. "Uhmm.... Because..."  
  
"C'mon!" The dark-haired girl seized her by her wrist and began to drag her - sputtering, wet, and   
confused - toward the open elevator. "We're working on your trademark 'magical girl' stance, so NEXT time -  
when I actually GET your footage - I can have you looking sharp, like a well-tuned machine!"  
  
As the doors slid closed, the dark-haired man frowned, chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip. "Yuki,"  
he commented off-handedly, "do you ever get the feeling that there's a LOT more going on here than meets the  
eye?"  
  
Brown eyes blinked, and a hand was raked through gray hair. "What do you mean?" questioned his friend  
with a slight scowl.   
  
Touya Kinomoto sighed and shook his head. "Never mind."  
  
===  
  
She flicked off the television with a small grunt and flopped into her bed, her eyelids heavy. The last  
few days had drained almost all her energy, both creative and otherwise. Her paper, for all intents and purposes,  
would be livable when she turned it in Monday, but it certainly wasn't going to win any prizes. Not even Kero,  
the Guardian Beast of the Clow itself, could tell her anything more about the book than what she could find in   
the library and online. The fact of the matter was that, yes, Yoshiyuki Terada was not qualified to teach   
anything that allowed him to play favorites, which was - unfortunately - every college subject known to man.  
Still, Chiharu and Rika seemed happy enough with their topics, so maybe she didn't have any right to complain.  
  
Maybe.  
  
The truth was - and Sakura had realized this in the early morning hours after capturing the Watery  
card - that her project had inadvertently produced a side-effect. A rather large, gangly, ugly side-effect, but  
one nonetheless. And that was the fact that she was now single-handedly responsible for saving the world...if  
only because it was her fault it needed to be saved!  
  
"Tomoyo," she sighed, rolling over onto her side so she was facing out into the room rather than facing  
the wall, "I think we should - "  
  
She stopped and blinked at the video camera lens that was pointed in her direction, cringing. "Hoe?"  
  
"Your thoughtful, pained pensiveness is so perfect for my project!" grinned the graphic designer,   
her fingers dancing across the zoom buttons as she spoke. "I can't wait to chronicle the life of Sakura   
Kinomoto on video!"  
  
Kero, who was sitting in the middle of the dresser and chomping merrily on M&Ms, raised an eyebrow   
curiously at the dark-haired girl. "Ya know, you're always talkin' 'bout this project o' yours," he commented,  
popping another few candies into his mouth and chewing contentedly. "What's it for?"  
  
Shutting off her camera, Tomoyo straddled her chair and smiled charmingly, like a proud mother smiling  
over her adorable little children. "I'm in a video journalism study," she explained. Her fingers toyed with the  
velcro hand strap, idly undoing it and then re-hooking it as she spoke. "We have to pick a subject and analyze  
all parts of it for the end of the year media festival!" Her purple eyes turned starry as she smiled at her   
best friend. "I couldn't help but chose my favorite person in the world, Sakura Kinomoto! There's so much   
action and adventure in your life!"  
  
The orange plushie on the dresser sighed and shrugged his little shoulders. "Just don't get too excited,  
'moyo," noted he with a stern look. "Her bein' the cardcaptor ain't the topic, she is. Ya know?"  
  
"Don't worry, Kero!" she responded with a glittering smile. "I can cut the footage of her being the   
cardcaptor and just focus on the obvious - her being the beautiful Sakura Kinomoto!"  
  
Sakura nearly fell off her bed at that exclamation. "Hoe........." she muttered, burying her face in   
her pillow. Sometimes, she just didn't KNOW about her best friend.   
  
There was a light rap at the door, and a squeak as Kero fell back into "stuffed animal" mode, knocking   
a handful of M&Ms onto the floor. "Come in!" called the brunette as she rolled off the edge of her bed and   
focused on picking up the candies. "It's open!"  
  
Hinges groaned as the door was pushed open, revealing a rather perplexed Chiharu Mihara. Walking in her  
wake was an equally perplexed Takashi Yamazaki, though he, unlike his girlfriend, smiled as he strode in. "Hi,  
Sakura, Tomoyo," chuckled the brunette, scratching the back of her head guiltily as she spoke. "Uhm, is Naoko  
around?"  
  
"She had a Phi-Delta-Omega meeting," grinned the girl with the video camera, her head cocked slightly to  
one side as she spoke. "But Sakura's the assistant Hall Advisor for the floor, so why don't you ask her?"  
  
"You know, Hall Advisors were once nuns who watched over floors at Catholic universities in Italy,"   
Takashi informed the room-dwellers with a smile, his voice taking up a teacher-like quality as he spoke. "They  
were in charge of making the all-male students behave according to scripture."  
  
Green eyes blinked. "Hoe?" questioned the aforementioned assistant, tossing the M&Ms into the garbage   
basket as she spoke. "Really?"  
  
Chiharu slugged him in the stomach, causing him to cough and double-over. "No, it's NOT true," she shot,  
once again annoyed by her partner's constant and nearly-compulsive lying. It seemed like he enjoyed telling   
the ever-gullible Sakura as many lies as possible. "Anyway, uhm, I have a little problem."  
  
"Oh, I think it's more than a LITTLE problem," pointed out Takashi. Brown eyes glowered in his direction  
and he immediately shrunk back, frightened of being slugged a second time. "I would say the problem is about  
six-foot-two, male, and has a bowl of popcorn in his lap."  
  
Sakura's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she listened to the dark-haired male speak. "You have a   
another guy in there?" she gasped, as though she couldn't believe it. "No wonder you have a problem!" Frowning,  
she stepped forward and patted Takashi softly on the shoulder. "I would have told you, had I known," she lamented,  
shaking her head slightly. "But there are plenty of fish in the sea, Takashi. I'm sure that you can find   
another - "  
  
"Not THAT kind of guy!" snapped Chiharu irritably, her voice cracking as she shrieked at her friend.   
"I'm talking about the uninvited kind of guy!" She sighed and waited a moment for her eyebrow to stop twitching  
before she dared to speak another time. "I tried to yank him off of the futon and drag him out into the hall,  
but he must be bolted to the spot or something, because he does NOT move." Frowning slightly, she chewed on her  
lower lip and looked toward the longer-haired inhabitant of room 414. "Funny thing is that he looks like Layla's  
boyfriend, but they're both on African term..."  
  
The mention of Chiharu's missing roommate caused the brunette's ears to perk up. "That's right!" she   
exclaimed, her smile brilliant and friendly. "How IS the Lay-ster doing in Madagascar, anyway?"  
  
"Quite well, actually!" responded her neighbor. "She e-mailed me from the school they're currently at  
to tell me all about the safari they just got back from, and - "  
  
"CLOW CARD!"   
  
Everything in the room froze as the unfamiliar voice - rather high pitched and distinctly Southern -   
cut through the air. Twitching slightly, Sakura turned her back on her friends and neared the dresser,   
pretending to peer out the window and toward the stretch of sidewalk below. "Now who in the WORLD yelled   
that?" she questioned, standing on her tiptoes. "Did anyone else hear that?"  
  
Sufficiently hidden, Kero hopped up into a sitting position. "It's a card!" he hissed, voice hidden by  
Sakura's continued babbling about the rude people who had to have been outside and how terrible and   
inconsiderate they were for hollering such things. "I'm thinkin' Illusion, since it took the form of someone  
who ain't around."  
  
She nodded, sweeping him off the dresser and into the pocket of her hooded sweatshirt. "I know!" she  
announced, whirling back around. A huge smile crossed her face as she bounced - literally bounced - over to her  
two friends. "Let ME go talk to this guy and see if I can't get him to move. It could be some frat prank against  
Sigma Theta Pi or something!"  
  
Takashi gritted his teeth. "Alpha Beta Phi..." he muttered under his breath, annoyed.  
  
"So, yeah, I'm off!" she cheered, throwing open the door as she spoke. "Keep them company, Tomoyo!"  
  
The dark-haired girl nearly dropped her video camera. "But - "  
  
"Bye!"  
  
As soon as the door closed behind her, Sakura sighed and slumped her shoulders, her face turned toward  
the ground. "Why ME?" she lamented, pouting slightly as she crossed the hallway and glanced cautiously into   
Chiharu's room. The door was propped open to reveal exactly what she had described - a tall young man, quite   
reminiscent of their friend's foreign-term boyfriend - was seated in the middle of the futon, munching popcorn  
and watching Trading Spaces. "THAT is a card?" blinked she, totally unconcerned as the little orange plushie  
popped out of her pocket and began to levitate at her side. "He looks like a totally cute guy!"  
  
"That would be Illusion," nodded the guardian with a small shrug. "Nothin' more than a troublemaker,   
really. Just wanted to shake things up, 'sall."  
  
Sighing a second time, the brunette strode into the room and slammed the door behind her, glowering   
dangerously at the card. "Listen to ME, Clow Card," she spat as she fumbled around her key for her key. "Do me  
a favor and tell your little friends that I don't have the energy to catch, like, three of you in less than  
twenty-four hours, okay?"  
  
Dark eyes twinkled as Illusion rose to his - its? Sakura wasn't so sure - feet and nodded, bowing  
slightly in her direction. She frowned slightly and thrust the key forward, not at all bothered by the magic   
and light that erupted when she called out the words of incantation.  
  
"Return to your true form! Clow CARD!"  
  
Keroberos - the guardian of the Clow - was unaware of the young woman behind him as he gazed out the   
window and at the world beyond. It really was a fairly pretty fall day, with all the leaves below turning colors  
and rustling in the breeze. But, somehow, he felt as though that was all about to change. Something was   
happening, but what?  
  
What could it be?  
  
===  
  
What could it be?  
  
Brown eyes stared out across the familiar landscape of the campus, focusing on the reds and golds that   
dotted the still-green grass. The wind-bent trees rustled softly, as did his gray hair, as he watched the world  
go by, his sweatshirt warm but yet not warm enough in the cool fall atmosphere.  
  
A hand, comforting and warm, rested on his shoulder, and he immediately leaned back into his roommate,  
completing a soft and yet subtle embrace. It was an embrace that many would overlook as purely friendly, but  
somehow... Somehow, it was more. He wasn't sure how, but there was more.  
  
"Something wrong, Yuki?" questioned Touya Kinomoto gently, not quite pulling away from his long-time  
friend as he, too, stared out across the world from their safe apartment balcony. "You looked lost, like you  
were confused about something..."  
  
"I'm very confused," admitted the other man with a small nod, raising a finger to adjust  
his glasses as he spoke. "I have this terrible feeling, like something big is about to happen, but I can't   
place it." He chuckled slightly, almost guiltily. "I'm so silly, aren't I?"  
  
His friend shrugged. "Maybe," he teased, ruffling the shorter man's soft hair. "But come on. Dinner's  
ready."  
  
Nodding, Yukito Tsukishiro took one last, long glance across the campus, eyes searching for something  
he couldn't quite find.  
  
But somehow, he had the distinct impression that black, beady eyes - almost like those of a stuffed   
animal - were staring back at him.  
  
===  
End Chapter 3. 


	5. Chapter 4: The Newest Student

The registrar's door banged open loudly, hitting the wall with an unusual force as he strode in. It  
was, in fact, so abrupt that Naoko Yanagisawa, acting secretary to the registrar, gave a start and managed to  
drop an armful of manila file folders. She thought she might have heard a muttered "sorry" as she reached down  
to pick them up, but she wasn't sure.  
  
She was, therefore, surprised, when her hand bumped into another, slightly darker hand, both reaching  
for the same file.  
  
"Thanks," she blushed, allowing herself to be handed the thin folder. The stranger - a male - was young  
and rather attractive. He nodded and moved the back of his hand to brush shaggy brown tresses from equally  
brown eyes. Their gazes locked, and Naoko shivered. It was almost as though he was staring beyond her eyes  
and INTO her body, and that wasn't a feeling she liked.  
  
Hopping to her feet, the secretary smiled and bustled over to her desk, trying her darnedest not to   
seem smitten by the stranger. "So, how may I help you?" she questioned pleasantly, cocking her head to one   
side as she spoke.  
  
The stranger thrust his hands into his back pants pocket, deadpan expression not fading from his face  
as he stepped forward, directly in front of the desk, and continued to stare her down. "I'm here to pick up   
my registration packet," he informed her curtly, his manner surprisingly gruff. "I was told that I could   
get it from a girl called Yanagisawa."  
  
"That would be me!" chirped Naoko, slightly put off by his behavior. A new student acting so strict  
and stern? He'd last all of two weeks in such an outgoing, friendly college. "Just give me your name, and I'll  
find it."  
  
Emotionless, the young man raised a hand to his head, finger-combing his hair out of his eyes. His   
face showed no signs of caring and his voice no signs of compassion as he shoved his hand back into his pocket  
and spat out his answer:  
  
"Li Shao-Lang."  
  
========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
Chapter 4: "The Newest Student"  
========================  
  
"And then, he introduced himself as 'Li Shao-Lang,' all backwards like that, and it literally took me  
ten minutes to figure out what he meant by it!"  
  
As always, the five girls, all just average students, were seated around the tiny circular table in the  
college commons, munching on nachos and other various snack food as they gabbed about that day's happenings.  
More or less, at least for the others, the day had been rather uneventful, but Naoko's story was both unsettling  
and amusing, causing the four others to be rather impressed with this bold new student who had wandered into  
their little campus.  
  
Smirking slightly, Chiharu winked a brown eye at her residential advisor. "So, Naoko, was he CUTE?"  
  
The sophomore blushed guiltily and paused in picking apart her nachos to push her glasses further up on  
her nose. She wasn't one to interact with males on a day-to-day basis, and, unlike the others, she had a rather  
large tendency to avoid flirtation and such at all costs. "He was pretty snappy, actually," she replied, not   
entirely lying. "He gave me one-word answers and quick little snippets of information."  
  
"But it was in a CUTE way, right?" pressed the braid-headed one with a sly grin. Her friend blushed   
further and took up a VERY acute interest in her food.  
  
Tomoyo rolled her eyes and smacked the teasing girl at her side. "C'mon, Chiharu, you have a boyfriend!"  
she prodded, chortling. "And we all know that you're not going to give up Takashi for all the tea in China, so  
it shouldn't really matter." She gave a little sigh and glanced wistfully at the ceiling. "The only ones of   
us who are allowed to look should be Naoko and I."  
  
Her roommate wrinkled her nose, confused. "Hey, I'm not taken!" she protested.  
  
The purple-haired teen smirked evilly and poked the brunette in the ribs. "Ah, yes, but YOU have your  
Yukito, and we all know that, sometime, you two will end up making wild, passionate love on the lounge sofa!"  
  
All the girls sans Sakura laughed at the expense of their one friend, who just turned bright, bright  
pink and stared down at the table top guiltily. She hadn't planned on making her crush so blatantly obvious,  
but it seemed as though the longer she stayed around her friends and told them all her hopes and dreams, the   
more blatant it had become. Still, with the exception of her giggling roommate, she still did have one major  
secret she was forced to keep, and it hurt more than anything else.  
  
As the conversation wandered to other things, like the coming freshman fair, the Cardcaptor found her  
mind jumping from thought to thought like a child playing hopscotch. Since the appearance of the Illusion card,  
life had been fairly docile; no other cards had appeared to torment her, and, as much as she would have liked  
to say she sensed the coming of more, the truth was that no one - not she, not Tomoyo, and not Keroberos - felt  
like another card was coming. It was almost as though time itself had come to a grinding halt and made it so   
no more odd occurrences would happen.  
  
But Touya looked at her funny every time she ran into him. That was one thing she COULD sense. There was  
something about his mannerisms that make her wonder what exactly he was thinking about her, and why he was   
thinking like that. Her father, in his latest e-mail from his archeological dig, had expressed her older   
brother's concern. She had attempted desperately to write it off as "no big deal," but the die-hard truth was  
that he was right. He was right that she was acting funny. He was right to be concerned.  
  
Yukito didn't seem concerned. He was his sweet, sensitive, smiling self. How badly she wanted to give   
him an enormous hug and kiss and tell him she loved him! But it was a childhood crush, something silly. And, as  
much as the girls teased, she was just as single as the rest of them. She might as well look at the strange  
new student and -   
  
"There he is!" hissed Naoko, and Sakura snapped from her thoughts to glance up, across the commons.   
Standing near the entry way was a rather typical-looking college student - tan khakis, green sweater, tussled  
brown hair. He was glancing around, almost as though he was looking for someone, his dark brown eyes drifting  
from student to student.   
  
Rika, in her high-bred manner, smiled softly. "He is quite attractive," she admitted, warranting a   
quartet of shocked glances. For all her wonderful points, the auburn-haired one's major downfall was the fact  
she would rarely - if EVER - look at a male other than her fiancé, if only for a brief second.  
  
"Huh, looks like he must be heading to a table near here," commented Tomoyo aloud as the group of girls  
turned back to their lunches and, once again, started chattering eagerly about other things. "Still, Sakura,  
don't you think he looks kinda serious?"  
  
The brunette would have shrugged had someone not picked that precise moment to rest their hand on her  
shoulder.  
  
Brown eyes peered down at Sakura through thick, dark bangs. "Are you the one they call Sakura Kinomoto?"  
questioned the new student with a rather dry tone, ignoring both the cry of "HOE?!" and the gaping of the other  
girls at the table.  
  
Swallowing hard, the second-year student forced a smile and nodded meekly. There was something rather...  
disconcerting...about the way he glanced at her. In fact, it felt a bit like when she looked at Kero... "That's  
me," she croaked after her nod received no response. "And you are...?"  
  
"That's not important," he responded curtly, his eyes lowering a bit toward her as he spoke. "Just know  
that your mission ends here. I have come to pick up the pieces of your shoddy attempt, Cardcaptor."  
  
And with that, he tossed his head and walked away, leaving a group of very confused young women   
behind him.  
  
===  
  
"That's just the THING!" whined Sakura rather loudly as she tossed herself onto her bed in a fit of  
absolute frustration. "I've NEVER seen this guy before! In fact, Naoko said that he just registered TODAY,   
meaning that he's utterly new to the state of New York!" She punched her pillow in annoyance, her green eyes   
glaring at the white-painted wall. "She even checked up on him, and he's from Hong Kong. HONG KONG!!! I don't  
even know where Hong Kong frickin' IS, let alone know someone FROM there!"  
  
The Guardian of the Clow sighed slightly at her ranting and raving, but continued to pace back and   
forth across her dresser. "That's real weird, Sakura," he commented after a moment of consideration, earning  
himself a rather pointed glare. "I mean, if ya knew him, that'd be one thing, but if ya've never met him before,  
then..."  
  
"He really did seem to know you," put in Tomoyo with a frown as she turned away from her computer  
screen and toward her roommate, who was still laying face-down on her bedspread. "I mean, he walked RIGHT up  
to you and addressed you by your name. Are you SURE you two have never met?"  
  
For what seemed to be the eightieth time in a row, the brunette affirmed that, no, she had never met the  
strange boy and, no, she didn't recognize him at all, and no, they had never had a class with him in high school,  
and she was just about to affirm that she had never been to Hong Kong when Kero's jaw fell open and hit the   
dresser with an audible "thump."  
  
Sakura frowned, glancing dubiously at him as he picked his chin up off the ground. "That kid's from   
Hong Kong?" he repeated, black bead eyes blinking once, twice, three times. "Aw, crap."  
  
"'Aw crap?'" echoed the Cardcaptor with a rather arch expression. "Do I WANT to know the significance of  
'aw crap,' Kero?"  
  
Her plushie sighed and forced a small smile. "You went an' wrote a report on the Clow," he replied with a   
half-nod of his rotund orange head. "Where'd the maker of the Clow come from, hmm?"  
  
Green eyes widened involuntarily toward the guardian as Sakura fought to process this suggestion. "You  
don't mean that... That he could be Clow Reed, do you?"  
  
Kero nearly fell flat on his face, and the only thing that kept him from completely face-vaulting was  
the rather large history book that was sitting next to him, which he caught himself on. "No!" he howled, glaring  
at her. "I mean that this kid, whoever he is, knows 'bout the Clow 'cause he's FROM Hong Kong!" Sighing, he   
shook his head. "But it still dun make sense that he'd know the Cardcaptor on sight. Hmmm..."  
  
"Maybe he's somehow related to the Clow Cards," suggested Tomoyo helpfully, tucking her feet up until  
she was sitting cross-legged on her desk chair. Kero glanced at her and arched an eyebrow, and she gave a little  
half-shrug in response. "I don't know," she smiled, a bit embarrassed by the guardian beast's sudden interest  
in her. "But if he's from Hong Kong and did know who Sakura was right away, that suggests that maybe he has  
something to do with the Cards. They ARE magical, after all. Maybe he has the same kind of magic Sakura does."  
  
The brunette would have responded had there not been a knock on the door at that moment. Kero immediately  
keeled over, falling to lay half on the dresser and half off, and Sakura forced a smile and called "Come in!"  
  
In came a rather flustered Rika, frowning profusely as she slipped in through the door and then leaned  
heavily on it to force it shut. "Uhm, Sakura, not to concern you, but..." Her frown deepened, brow furrowing  
as she glanced at the room-dweller. "Did you perhaps invite that new student over to our dorm?"  
  
"Hoe?" squeaked the brunette, nearly slipping off her bed in surprise. "Wh-what are you talking about?!"  
  
Her friend paled. "I figured," she sighed, shaking her head. When she realized that the two roommates  
were still STARING at her, she blushed a little and reached to scratch the back of her neck. "It's just that  
the new student - Li Sho-Long or whatever his name is - has been wandering up and down the hallways looking  
for your room. I figure he'll show up soon and, I don't know, I thought you would want to know."  
  
"Thanks, Rika," smiled Tomoyo as she watched her roommate continue to blink, starting like a deer caught  
in the headlights of an 18-wheeler. "We'll let you know if anything really weird happens."  
  
The auburn-haired one nodded, and as soon as she was out the door Keroberos was on his feet, his black  
eyes the size of saucepans. "LI?!" he roared, staring after Rika with his mouth hanging open. "The Lis are the  
most powerful magic-users in all of Hong Kong! No WONDER he's here! He's a descendent!"  
  
His charge shot him a rather confused look and he sighed, plopping down on the very edge of her history  
tome. "Clow Reed, the creator of the Clow, died a real long time ago," he explained, accompanying each word with  
a rather elaborate wave of his paws. "But he left some nieces an' nephews an' stuff, and they had some kids,  
and them kids had kids, and their kids had kids, passin' his super-powerful magic down the line all the way. The  
most powerful of them families was the Li family. And, if the new kid's name is Li Sho-Long - "  
  
"Shao-Lang," corrected Tomoyo helpfully.  
  
" - then he's one of them magic-users." He scowled, resting his chin on a paw. "The Lis must know that   
the cards have escaped, an' want them back in their hot little hands." He paused, glancing dubiously at the girl  
on the bed. "Makes me wonder how a school like this ended up with the book in the first place, ya know?"  
  
Sakura was about to respond to the rhetorical question of her guardian when, once again, there was a   
knock at the door. Both young women gave a start and glanced at each other, not at all noticing that Kero's   
attempt to revert into "stuffed toy" mode ended in his falling off the dresser and face-first onto the tile   
floor. For a moment no one said anything, waiting in silence for the knock to go away.  
  
It echoed a second time.  
  
Shrugging her slender shoulders, Tomoyo turned back to her keyboard and slipped on her reading glasses,  
followed almost immediately by her headphones. "Come in!" she called merrily before flicking on her WinAmp   
player.  
  
The brunette scowled at her friend but said nothing as the door swung open and the new student, still  
dressed in the green sweater and the khakis, stepped into the room. Brown eyes locked immediately with green,  
dark and unmoving. Then, in one swift movement, he pushed shut the door and flipped the bolt, locking it.  
  
"Hey!" shot Sakura, hopping out of her bed as soon as she heard the tell-tale click. Her hands flew  
around her back and fumbled their way into her back jeans pocket, fingering the familiar bulge of the Clow Key.  
"What do you think you're doing, huh? This is my room, and I won't be bullied in my own - "  
  
"Quiet down," he snapped rather blandly, rolling his eyes in her direction. "Or do you want everyone to  
hear our coming conversation, hmm?"  
  
"What conversation would that be?" growled the brunette, her gaze switching into a dead glare almost  
immediately. "You never did explain yourself. You didn't even give me your NAME before you started through around  
big words like 'Cardcaptor.'" She frowned slightly, deciding inwardly that, since she was in the hot seat, she  
might as well pretend to be absolutely clueless. "What is a Cardcaptor, anyway? Is it something like a 'Magic: The  
Gathering' player?"  
  
The brown-haired young man shot her a rather annoyed look, like that of a parent who is able to see  
through his child's little white lies. "Don't play dumb with me, Kinomoto," he snapped, tossing his head   
haughtily. "If you expect to rival me as the Cardcaptor, you first have to own up to being her." He glanced  
around the room slowly, examining it. "And, if you MUST know, my name is Li Shao-Lang. You may call me Li."  
  
Sakura made a face at him, wrinkling her nose. "I'm supposed to refer to you by your last name?"  
  
"As a matter of respect to your better, I expect it," snorted the young man, taking a few steps further  
into the room as he craned his neck to glance in the half-open closets and on top of the desks and dressers.  
"Where do you keep them, anyway?"  
  
"Keep WHO?" demanded his adversary angrily, hopping up and down in front of him to prevent him from   
seeing anything in the room - especially the red-leather book that was sitting beneath her history text and the  
orange-yellow plushie on the floor. "And who do you think you are, calling yourself my better? I don't even  
KNOW you!"  
  
Li shot her a rather dirty look before reaching forward and grasping her by the shoulder. She found   
herself struggling against his strong grip. "Listen to me, Kinomoto, and listen good," he informed her, his   
voice deadpan. He attempted to stare into her eyes but she turned away, glancing desperately toward her roommate.  
Of course, Tomoyo was too engrossed in her power-punk and her newest web layout to really notice her friend's  
plight. "I don't want to play games with you. I just want the Clow Cards. Give me the cards and I - OWWW!!!"  
  
Suddenly, the hand was gone and the brown-haired stranger was hopping around, clutching his left leg.  
And, attached to his shin by the teeth was a yellowish-orange, growling plushie.  
  
"Kero!" squealed Sakura, lunging toward her guardian beast. Unfortunately, Li picked that moment to shake  
his leg rather violently, kicking the brunette woman in the face with the motion. Not that it really mattered,  
because her inertia still sent her sprawling toward his legs, which knocked them both off their feet and into  
the closed-and-locked door with a loud "THUMP!"  
  
Tugging off her headphones, Tomoyo swiveled in her seat to glance at her roommate at the strange new   
student. "What in the world is going on, you - " And then, upon seeing Sakura laying in Li's lap with Kero   
smashed under her chest, the purple-haired graphic designer did the only dignified thing she could.  
  
She burst out laughing so hard that she fell out of her chair and onto the floor.  
  
"Not funny," muttered Sakura irritably, clambering to her feet and dusting off her jeans and t-shirt.  
This comment somehow managed to send her friend into an entirely new round of hysterical laughter, leaving her  
to glower helplessly. Then, she bent down and plucked the swirly-eyed Keroberos up off her newfound enemy's   
leg, holding him upside down by his tail. "And as for YOU, Kero, I should have you given to the Salvation Army!"  
  
"What?" whined the little stuffed cat-lion-bear, crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced rather  
annoyedly at his charge. "I was only tryin' to keep that there kid from bad-mouthin' my fine Cardcaptor!"  
  
Brushing off the seat of his khakis, Li glanced toward the upside-down plush toy. "You mean to tell me  
that YOU, a stuffed animal, are the legendary Keroberos?"  
  
Kero grunted and struggled to turn himself around, but his tail refused to do a full 180-degree turn,  
and so he contented himself to stare idly at Sakura's midsection. "If ya HAFFTA know, then yeah, I'm the   
Guardian Beast of the Clow." He wrinkled his little nose and twisted his torso violently, causing his captor  
to release his tail. Wings fluttering madly, he raised himself up to the level of the new student's eyes and  
glared into them. "But when I'm in my REAL form, I am so super-powerful that I can make li'l midgets like you  
wet your panties, kiddo."  
  
"My name is Li Shao-Lang, plushie," snorted the brown-haired man with a toss of his head. "NOT 'kiddo.'"  
  
"And mine is Keroberos," replied the seeming stuffed toy, hovering dangerously close to the man's nose.  
"And I am NOT a plushie."  
  
"Cut it OUT," commanded Sakura, smacking her guardian beast so that his hover actually acted as an   
accelerator to run him into the floor. "And I HIGHLY suggest if you're done here, MISTER LI, that you get out."  
Green eyes narrowed to slits. "NOW."  
  
Li glanced at her, his face completely void of emotion. "Is that to say that you're still considering   
yourself my rival for the capture of the Clow Cards?"  
  
She moved one hand just long enough to brush a strand of loose hair from her face. "No," she responded,  
completely deadpan as she pushed past him and opened the door. "I'm no rival to you. I AM the Cardcaptor."  
  
And with that, he tossed his head and strode out of the room, leaving Sakura to slam the door behind  
him.  
  
===  
  
"Ow ow ow..." mumbled Sakura, pressing the Ziploc bag full of ice against her cheek as gently as she   
possibly could. Even the tiniest little bit of pressure on the slowly-appearing bruise - a large red-purple   
welt that looked extremely grotesque after only an hour's time. "Who would have thought that weirdo would have   
kicked so hard? Oooowwww..."  
  
Sighing, the brunette sat slowly up, leaning against the wall that her bed was pushed up against. "Who  
does he think he is?" she questioned of the empty room, half-expecting Kero to pop up out of somewhere, but he  
didn't appear. He had actually left at the same time that Tomoyo had class, saying that he had a few things he   
"wanted to look into." The Cardcaptor had nodded dully and let him leave, not really pausing to think how odd  
his comment was until after he was long gone. She blamed it wholly and completely on the sudden - and painful -  
appearance of Li Shao-Lang.  
  
It wasn't even really that Li bothered her. She could see that he was going to be an irritation, but  
then again, there were a lot of things in life that were irritations. Her brother was an irritation, her friends  
tended to be irritations, and Kero didn't help much either. But the fact remained that capturing the cards was  
her responsibility. It was something that she was completely ready to do. Well, okay, not completely ready,  
but ready enough. She had been the idiot, who let the cards free. It was her responsibility. Nothing could  
change that.  
  
Even so, he was going out of his way to make sure that she was uncomfortable. After all, he had come to  
her room, locked her door, and caused much more mischief initiating tended to cope with. In fact, though more  
she thought about it, the more she realized that Naoko had been right. For all his faults, Li was cute. Granted,   
he had the personality of viper and the look to match, there was something about those brown eyes and that  
shaggy head of hair that made her heart skip a few beats here and there. Unfortunately, he was making it rather   
hard for anyone to find him at all attractive. The mere thought of his attitude problem that Sakura want to   
smack him.  
  
Just then, there was a knock the door, a knock that was just soft enough to make Sakura wonder if  
Tomoyo's class had been canceled. "Come in!" called Sakura from her spot against the wall. For moment, nothing  
happened, and Sakura assumed that Takashi was playing yet another trick on his girlfriend's buddy. But then,  
Rika, her hair a little disheveled, peeked her head into the door. "Oh, hi Naoko," smiled the brunette, hopping  
off her bed and crossing the room until she stood face to face with her friend. "What's up?"  
  
The "hall marm" frowned slightly, scratching the back of her head and stepped more fully into the room.  
"Well," she began, pursing her lips, "I have a meeting to go to, and so I'm not going to be around the rest the   
day." She stopped to push her glasses higher up on her nose. "I was wondering then if you could run down to  
the College Commons for me and pick up the care packages that were ordered. I think there are only four for our  
floor." Her hopeful smile was enough to indicate that she was absolutely, positively desperate for the help.  
  
Sakura shrugged and turned toward her dresser, grabbing her keys and stuffing them into her pocket.  
"Of course!" She grinned, not really wanting to cross her hall director. Well, not wanting to cross her this  
soon. "Besides," she added, try not to look too sheepish, "I could use getting out of this room. I think I've   
being cooped up in here for entirely too long."   
  
Naoko sent her a rather odd look. "Where in the world did you get that bruise?" asked her friend,  
obviously concerned about the large welt that had appeared on the other woman's cheek. "Did you get into a   
fist fight or something?"  
  
The brunette assistant hall director blushed slightly as she slid on her sneakers. "Like the idiot I am,"  
she lied, feeling both increasingly embarrassed and angry about the argument that had taken place earlier that   
day, "I smacked into a door when I was leaving history class. I think Terada bust a gut laughing at me."  
And actually, that wasn't entirely a lie. She had run into the door on her way out of class, and it had hurt.  
But it hadn't been nearly enough velocity to cause a bruise. At least, not a bruise as huge as that one.  
  
"Thanks a lot, Sakura," gushed the glasses-wearing sophomore. "I'll come by and get the care packages  
sometime tomorrow." And with that, she was out the door and on her way down the hall, half jogging as she headed  
off to whatever meeting she had to go to this time.  
  
Sakura frowned a little, wondering how exactly she always got herself into these messes. Then, she allowed  
that thought to fade away and wandered out of her dorm room and down the hallway to pick up the care packages.  
  
===  
  
As luck would have it, Sakura was almost all the way to the College Commons when she saw, of all the things  
in the world, a garbage can bouncing down the sidewalk.  
  
Now, in her time at the college, Sakura had seen a lot of things. She had seen the men's floors  
in her dorm building run four panty raids, she had seen drunken frat boys stumble into the girl's bathroom thinking  
that they had made it all the way to the fourth floor, and then watched as they attempted to use the sink as a   
urinal. She had lived all sorts of weird little things, really, so a hopping garbage can should have felt second  
nature to her.  
  
Except this particular hopping garbage can brought with it the tingling, shiver-filled sensation of a Clow  
card.  
  
"Dammit!" muttered Sakura as she ducked behind the impractically large sundial that had forever sat just  
outside of the science building. She fumbled in her pockets for her key and her cards, hoping that, by some miracle  
of life, she would just happen to have remembered them. "First a weird new student, now THIS! What next, a talking  
cat?"  
  
"Ya was expectin' maybe an anime mascot?" chided a voice, and Sakura's cry of "HOE!!!!" echoed across  
the Quad as Kero fluttered down off his perch atop the sundial to land on the brunette's shoulder. "I'm thinkin'   
the same thing ya are, Sakura," he drawled, tail twitching as he watched the can hop onto the grass and start   
chasing a squirrel. "I was lookin' for that Li kid when that garbage can appeared, and I've been followin' it   
ever since."  
  
Mumbling a few rather rude things about "deus ex machina," Sakura grabbed her key from her pocket,   
clutching it in her fist so hard that her knuckles turned white. "Time to party," she grumbled rather irately before  
chanting the magic words and allowing her wand to appear.  
  
"Wait!" hollered Kero as he watched his charge toss out the Fly card and hop onto the staff, her sights   
fixed on and only on the bouncing garbage can. "I gotta warn ya, that there card is the - "  
  
Before he could finish, the college student took off across the Quad on her magical flying Staff of the  
Clow, her hair blowing behind her.  
  
The guardian beast sighed and shook his head. "It's the Jump card," he mumbled to himself, "and it's a   
trickster."  
  
His words were too soft to be heard by Sakura, however, who was now zipping across the quad on her pink,   
bird-headed staff, the fall wind tossing her already-messy brown hair every which way as she chased the garbage   
can. Luckily for her, the can wasn't very quick in it's little hops across campus, and - though she had a strange  
feeling that, yes, it had picked up speed since she'd taken off after it - the distance was covered quite rapidly.  
In fact, she was within an arm's length of the possessed waste receptacle before she reached the ever-nearing   
back wall of the College Commons.  
  
Reaching for the end of the staff, Sakura glared at the can, which had now come to a stop against the  
red brick wall of the nearby building. "I don't know what you are," she announced, "and I really don't care!  
Return to your true form, Cl - "  
  
It was then that Sakura realized just how close to the wall she WAS.  
  
There was first the audible "SMACK!"-ing sound of flesh and bone hitting brick, followed by a groan from  
the said mash of flesh and blood and then a thump as Sakura landed atop the twitching, shivering mass that was an  
obviously nervous trashcan. Somewhere between the groan and the landing, however, the brunette finished the words  
"Clow Card," and yet managed to be surprised when a card - complete with a bunny-looking illustration and text  
reading "The Jump" - appeared before her.  
  
"Ya okay, Sakura?!" howled a rather concerned Keroberos, his wings fluttering wildly as he hovered   
beside his charge. She was still seated atop the garbage can, staring blankly at the wall in front of her even as   
Kero babbled into her ear. "Say somethin'! ANYTHIN'!"  
  
Ever-so-slowly, she turned to face him, her green eyes lowering to a glare that would have been terrifying  
were it not for the giant red-purple bruise that remained just under her left eye. "I hate this job," she growled.  
"I absolutely HATE it."  
  
The guardian beast grinned. "Yeah!" he cheered, his little black beady eyes slanting closed in a triumphant  
smile. "You're okay!"  
  
Sakura took her staff, which was still in it elongated form, and smacked him.  
  
===  
  
"Today has just not been your day, has it?" chuckled Tomoyo as she watched Sakura move the Ziploc of ice  
from her bruised cheek and onto her rather swollen nose. Luckily for her (or was it unluckily...?), the university  
staff doctor had discovered that her nose was not broken but rather just badly bruised, and he remained fairly  
certain that the swelling would go down in a few hours. Still, he had seemed rather concerned when his patient  
had said she'd fallen down a flight of stairs and landed face-first at the base, and he had recommended her to  
the local Alcoholics Anonymous group, reminding her that she COULD get help. She had been absolutely certain, then,  
to shoot him the nastiest look possible before storming out of the office and slamming the door behind her.  
  
The brunette sat up and glowered at her roommate, wrinkling her nose slightly until she remembered that   
nose motion equated to mind-numbing amounts of pain, at which time she contented herself with harrumphing. "The  
thing with the Jump card doesn't bother me NEARLY as much as that Li kid does," she responded, moving to lean   
against the wall, her legs stretched out into a "v" shape across her bed. "I mean, even if he IS the freaking   
heir to the Clow cards doesn't mean that he can come in and try to tell me what to do!"  
  
Her friend smirked, cupping her chin in a hand. "Maybe it's because he's a man," she suggested, receiving  
a look from her friend that directly translated to 'Oh, PUH-lease!' "I mean, guys DO tend to be stupid and   
insensitive like that."  
  
"Not Yukito," snorted Sakura rather haughtily, crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke. "Yukito is   
so sweet, it's almost like he's a chick!" She giggled, her eyes going starry. "Do you remember when he made his   
own stationary to send me that 'Welcome to college' note, Tomoyo? Tell me that that's not kind and sensitive!"  
  
"Sounds kinda gay to me," commented Kero as he flipped through a rather battered copy of one of Tomoyo's  
Playstation magazines. "I mean, what kinda guy makes his own stationary, huh? I'm thinkin' that his branches are  
blowin' in the other breeze."  
  
As green eyes lowered to a glare, the dark-haired roommate nodded thoughtfully, glancing out the window  
as she considered the guardian's words. "He DOES have a point, even if you don't want to admit it," she reminded  
her roomie thoughtfully, studying the blackish-blue sky that had replaced that afternoon's robin's egg blue. "Not  
many guys can cook, clean, and knit as well as your obsession can. Maybe you should take that as a sign..."  
  
Hopping to her feet, Sakura abandoned her bag of ice so she could more effectively rest her hands on her  
blue jeans clad hips. "There are TWO reasons that Yukito isn't gay!" she declared stubbornly, her slippered foot  
slapping the floor as she stomped her emphasis to this fact. "The first is that NO MAN that witty, kind, and   
absolutely GORGEOUS could POSSIBLY be gay!"  
  
Kero snorted, trying his best to hide a smirk and fading at his attempt. "Except for the fact that, the   
prettier they are, the harder they fall to all fours."  
  
Tomoyo whapped him upside the head for that one, even though she, too, was smirking.  
  
"And SECONDLY," continued the brunette, tossing her head as she ignored her friend (and her talking plush  
toy), "if he WERE, by some flaw of nature, gay, that would mean that he would be sleeping with my brother. And   
if anyone is more straight than Yuki, it would have to be Touya!"  
  
Purple eyes widened, and dark eyebrows arched. "You mean Touya, who can make a four-course meal without   
using a recipe book? Touya, who knit you a sweater for Christmas after he hand-spun his own yarn from a yarn-making  
kit he got at Jo-Ann fabrics? Touya, who dressed better than ANY man in ANY of the Abercrombie and Fitch   
catalogues?"  
  
Her roommate flinched at all the references. "So what?" she questioned, plopping back down on her bed,  
not really noticing that the door was starting to creep open. "I mean, look at Professor Terada! That guy has more   
fashion sense than even Touya, and he comes across as an amazing flamer, too." Oblivious to the fact that Tomoyo  
was making a not-so-subtle slashing motion at neck level, she continued. "But for some reason, he - the man who  
probably would be voted 'Most Likely to Swing the Other Way' by a survey group of college students - is getting  
married to a FEMALE." Her green eyes flickered in mirth, and she smiled triumphantly. "All you have to do is   
apply that logic to Yukito's case, and you've got yourself the perfect reasoning for why he's NOT gay." Proud of  
herself, she turned toward the auburn-haired girl from down the hall, who was standing in the doorway with a   
rather pissed look on her face. "Right, Rika?"  
  
Suddenly, she realized exactly what she had said, and to whom. "RIKA?!"  
  
Glowering, her neighbor shot her a dirty look before tossing an envelope atop of Sakura's desk, which sat  
next to the door. "I was GOING to tell you that this note was stuck to your door before I invited you to dinner  
with Yoshiyuki and myself, but I have suddenly lost my appetite." And with that, she turned tail and stepped out  
of the room, slamming the door behind her.  
  
Sakura slid off the edge of her bed, hitting the floor with an audible thump. "Hoeeeeeeee," she moaned,  
too lazy to stand as she literally crawled over to her desk and pulled the envelope off of it. "I am such a moron."  
  
"I ain't arguin'," chortled Keroberos as he turned back to his magazine. "Takes a whole buncha bein' stupid  
to say things like that in fronta your friend."  
  
"Shut up," shot back the bruised and battered Cardcaptor as she tore open the flap to the envelope and   
pulled out the sheet of paper inside. Her lips moved as though she was about to add something else to her comeback,  
but words refused to formulate as she read the note within the envelope. Her green eyes widened to enormous   
proportions, but neither of her companions took any notice of her rather shocked reaction.  
  
Until she hopped to her feet and practically dove into her closet, rooting around for her shoes. "What's  
going on?" gaped Tomoyo, hopping off her desk chair as she watched her friend toss purses, textbooks, and even  
dirty dishes out of her closet as she looked for her footwear. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"That stupid Li kid needs to see me about the cards!" she grunted, falling to the floor as she began to   
tug on her tennis shoes. "He wants to meet me behind the old gym building by 8 pm, and if I'm not there, then  
he's going to FORCEFULLY take the cards from me."  
  
There was a blur of orange as Kero zipped over to flutter right in front of her face, a scared expression  
crossing his little stuffed-animal face. "That little kiddo!" he growled, tail twitching as he hovered before  
his charge. "I don't believe that any kid like him would try an' be a Cardcaptor! Don't he KNOW that he ain't got  
the magic power for it?"  
  
Looping the strap for her camera bag over her shoulder, Tomoyo winked at him before moving to her own  
closet and flipping hangers at an alarming rate. "I don't know," she admitted, smirking rather evilly as she   
stopped midway through her wardrobe and paused, examining something. "But I *DO* know that it's time we introduced  
the newest hero of the magical girl genre!"  
  
"Oh NO..." groaned the brunette, eyeing the door with increased urgency. Unfortunately, Tomoyo's closet  
was on the opposite side of the room from her own, meaning that it was directly next to the closed door. There was  
no escape.  
  
Her roommate grinned rather manically and reached to lock the door. The "click" echoed through the otherwise  
silent dorm room. "The debut of the one, the only, the fighter for love and justice.... CARDCAPTOR SAKURA!!!"  
  
Sakura's screams of "HOE!!!" fell on deaf ears.  
  
===  
  
The old gym building was, for a lack of better description, a dilapidated old granite building that sat on  
the very edge of campus. Built shortly after the school's historic opening in the 1870s, it had been in use  
for several decades before, in the sixties, the school chose to close it down, stating that it was too old for  
use. Unfortunately, the National Register of Historic Building decided to add that gymnasium to its list only a   
month before a demolition team came in to "take care of business," and the administration had been bitter ever   
since.  
  
Behind the building was a small stretch of cracked and broken concrete that had once served as a basketball  
court and, just beyond that, an enormous drop-off that led to a ravine. A small stream ran through the ravine, just  
enough to be a trickling of water. Trees, dead and living, bent over the stream, as if they were paying homage  
to some sort of holy site.  
  
Shao-Lang Li had been waiting for about fifteen minutes when he could finally hear the girlish squealing  
of Sakura Kinomoto approaching the basketball court behind the gym. It was rather warm for a fall night, but at  
the same time, it was just windy enough to carry her voice from wherever its origins lied and into his waiting  
ears. And this particular time, that voice was whining.  
  
"I don't believe this outfit, Tomoyo! It's... It's absolutely - "  
  
"I know it's a masterpiece!" Another voice, one that sounded vaguely familiar. His ears perked up. What was  
the name of that girl that Kinomoto was always with? Tomo? No, no, that wasn't it. He could remember her reaction  
to their unfortunate dog pile that morning - her purple eyes alight with mirth as she started - but her name eluded  
her.  
  
A third voice, this one with the most annoying and unidentifiable accent he had ever had the displeasure  
to hear. "I ain't what I wudda thought she'd make for ya," it commented, the young man recognizing the voice of the  
stuffed toy that considered himself a guardian beast. "But it is kinda cute."  
  
"Hoeeeeeeeeeeee...." whined the first voice again, and it was then that he, standing with his back against  
what was left of one of the ancient basketball hoops, got his first glance of the trio at hand.  
  
The girl with no name - was it Toyo? - was walking backwards, occasionally almost-tripping thanks to all  
the cracks in the concrete that surrounded the supposedly-historic gymnasium. In her hands was a state-of-the-art  
digital camcorder, the lens of which she kept constantly focused on her roommate.  
  
Keroberos hovered near her shoulder, and he appeared to be snickering at something. And as for Sakura...  
  
Shao-Lang Li choked as he realized exactly what the brunette was wearing, and suddenly, the conversation  
he had been "lucky" enough to overhear made a lot more sense.   
  
The brunette's rather short tresses were pulled up and out of her face by what appeared to be a white   
headband, but - as the wind picked up and ruffled her hair - he realized that it wasn't a headband at all, but  
rather a thick ribbon. The tails of said ribbon hung down her back and all the way to about her ankles, which was,  
interestingly enough, where the hem of her dress fell. The dress itself was also white, but it was a shimmery   
white that almost looked silver in the dim, half-flickering lights that were attached to the back of the gym.   
As if the white-silver dress and super-long ribbon were not enough, attached to Sakura's back were two white wings  
that appeared to be made out of real feathers.   
  
Snorting, he stepped away from the basketball hoop and stepped into the center of the court, his hands  
on his hips. "What in the world are you wearing?" he questioned rather dubiously, his shock winning over his   
urge to point and laugh.   
  
Green eyes, which had previously been watching out for cracks in the ground, snapped up to give the young  
man a once-over. "I should be asking you the same question," Sakura shot back, staring at him. He was wearing what  
appeared to be some sort of costume out of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," complete with a sword tied around  
his waist and some sort of hideous little cap. "At least my costume is something discernable."  
  
Li crossed his arms over his chest and glared right back at her, a bit phased as he noticed how the other  
girl's camera kept swinging back and forth from him to his adversary, as though the camerawoman was trying to catch  
every last snippet of conversation. Probably because she was. "If you MUST know," he returned haughtily, "I am   
wearing the ceremonial robes of the Li family. Not that YOU would understand that, of course." He smirked slightly.  
"Anyone dressed up as an angel definitely wouldn't get it."  
  
The glower from the brunette woman intensified. "Oh, and you think this was MY idea?" she snapped back,  
obviously annoyed at his attitude. "Maybe if you had some friends, you'd understand what it is to do kind things  
for them!" She took a few steps forward as her voice got louder.  
  
"Maybe if you weren't such a little weakling of a Cardcaptor, I wouldn't have to insult you to get the  
point across!" He, too, took a few steps closer to her, his hands still on his hips. "And if you really want to  
outdo me, you have a LOT to learn, Kinomoto!"  
  
"Really? Well, maybe YOU should learn some manners!"  
  
"Me? Manners? At least I know how to address those who are stronger and more mature than myself! You   
would not know proper decorum if it kicked you in - "  
  
Suddenly, the argument was interrupted by a rumbling sound that resembled a cross between a growl and a   
clap of thunder. The duo glanced toward the source of the sound - namely, the roof of the gymnasium - and then   
glanced at one-another, exchanging rather concerned glances.   
  
Standing on the roof of the ancient, dilapidated athletic building was a creature that looked somewhat (but  
not entirely) like a bristling wolf, with "fur" that sparkled and crackled as lightning did and dark, blue-black  
eyes that glared down at them. Then, he barked, and the thunder roared again, this time accompanied by a well-placed  
bolt of lightning.  
  
"A card!" squealed Sakura, diving out of the way just quickly enough to avoid the wolf-creature's attack.  
Li, too, barely missed being charred like a marshmallow on a campfire, and the two of them rolled across the   
broken concrete in opposite directions. "What is it, Kero? The Lightning?"  
  
"It's the Thunder!" corrected the guardian beast as he abandoned the ever-attentive camerawoman to flutter  
over to his charge. "It attacks with lotsa lightnin'!"  
  
Grumbling, the young man climbed to his feet, only to find himself evading another rather quick attack by  
the Thunder card. "Really, now?" he chided the orange-yellow beast, shooting it a rather annoyed glance. "What gave  
you that idea? Perhaps it was THE GIANT LIGHTNING BOLT THAT NEARLY KILLED US BOTH?!"  
  
From her spot behind the camera, Tomoyo made a tisk-tisk sound with her tongue. "Now now, Shao-Lang, that's  
no way to talk to the guardian beast of the Clow!"  
  
Initially, Li shot her a rather annoyed glance, but said glance faded as he was forced to dodge yet another  
flash of yellow-gold light. "Okay, Kinomoto," he grunted, landing gracefully next to the angel-garbed brunette and  
glancing at her concernedly. "What cards do you have right now?"  
  
She frowned slightly as she glanced at the handful of red-and-gold cards that she had collected in the   
last few weeks. "I've got Windy, Fly, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, and Illusion," she read off, her urgency   
intensifying with each syllable. The wolf-thunder roared, and they jumped out of its way in amazing unison, landing   
to stand back-to-back. "What do you think?" she questioned, glancing nervously at her "partner" in card capturing.   
If he could be called that, she amended inwardly. He still was a pain in the rear-end, even if they DID have to   
work together, this time. "Windy?"  
  
"No way!" came the haughty response as the young man reached to his back and tugged on something. With a   
swing of his arm, he released an enormous sword from it's back-mounted scabbard. Sakura glanced rather dubiously  
at the silver blade and took a little step away from him, suddenly feeling VERY sorry for anything bad she may have  
said to anyone with a weapon that large. "Windy is too docile for something like this! What we need is a distraction,  
so it will leave US alone!"  
  
Sakura blinked at him. "Leave US alone...?" she repeated, biting her lower lip in thought. The faces of  
the cards - Windy, Fly, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion - stared up at her lifelessly, but yet she could feel   
their power coursing through her veins. But which one would keep Thunder away? Certainly it wouldn't be Rain, for  
Rain and Thunder often went together, and Watery would just amplify the power of the Thunder card. Illusion really  
wasn't good for all that much, now that she thought of it, and the Fly and Jump were more evasion tactics than  
offensive moves. But, then, how -   
  
"Of COURSE!" cheered the brunette, tucking all of the cards but one back into the pocket of her angel's   
gown. "I've got it! The card we need is - HOEEEEEEEEE!!!!"  
  
Li turned away from his companion just in time to see a bolt of lightning - as gold and prickly-looking  
as ever - come sailing in their direction. With a flick of his wrist, Li pulled from his pocket something like that  
looked rather like an extra-long orange post-it note and tossed it in front of his sword. "Spirit of Lightning,   
come forth!" he cried, swinging his sword so it made contact with the paper. Immediately, another flash of lighting  
smashed into that which the Thunder-beast had created and overtook it, the two forces exploding with a crackle of  
brilliant light.  
  
Seeing the opening she so needed, the angel-garbed cardcaptor stepped forward, dangling her key in front  
of her. "Oh key that hides the power of the dark! By our contract, reveal your true form to me. This, Sakura  
commands!" Doing just as Tomoyo had "taught" her after the incident in the library, she raised her hands high over  
her head, the key spinning almost dizzyingly over her head. "RELEASE!"  
  
Then, as soon as the Staff of Sealing had appeared, she tossed the card that she had chosen from her small  
stack in front of her body. "Wood!" she commanded, lowering the staff head onto the card. "Cover us with foliage  
and hide us from the Thunder card!"  
  
"Good thinkin'!" cheered Keroberos merrily as the Wood emerged from its containment and wove a thick   
blanket of branches and leaves high above their level, hiding them from view. Sakura beamed, quite proud of her   
efforts, but Li just snorted and tossed his head.  
  
"Now," instructed the cardcaptor, trying earnestly to ignore her urge to kick her male counterpart squarely  
between his legs, "I'm going to sneak around the back of the building with Fly while the Thunder keeps trying  
to nail us under the trees. YOU - " She sent a pointed and rather bitter glance toward the scowling Shao-Lang Li.   
" - just use another one of those super-post-its if it tries to attack again. Okay?"  
  
His brown eyes lowered dangerously in her direction. "POST-ITS?" he roared, his glare not lessening even as  
she summoned the Fly card and hopped onto her staff. "You DARE call my ofuda Post-Its?"  
  
"Whatever!" called the brunette after him as she zipped through the rather tidy little rows of trees the   
Wood card had created, ducking out of the way of a few stray branches here-and-there. The artificial wood stretched  
almost halfway around the building and, by time Sakura had emerged back into the dimly-lit glory that was the   
sidewalk around the gym, she was completely certain that she had gone unnoticed. Somewhere on the roof, she could  
hear the Thunder growling and throwing lightning bolts at the forest below, the energy crackling off the wood and  
echoing through the night sky.  
  
So silent was the Fly card's gentle wing beats that the Thunder was completely oblivious to Sakura's approach,  
even when she suddenly climbed from ground level and high into the sky. Her silhouette was reflected by the full moon  
as she grabbed the end of her staff and raised it high above her head, allowing the wings of the Fly to disappear.  
For a moment, it seemed that she was participating in a complete and total free-fall, her body plunging toward the  
roof of the gym without a sign of stopping, but then, as she aimed the bird head toward the wolf-beast, time seemed  
to slow, and her plummet was almost totally halted. "Return to thy true form!" she called out, causing her adversary  
to swing its great head toward her, noticing the angel-cardcaptor's appearance for the very first time since she  
had disappeared beneath the cover of the Wood card. The unconfined card roared, the thunder clap painful to the ears,  
but it was too late. Already, the tell-tale pink rectangle that signaled the capture of a card had come into view.  
"Clow CARD!!!"  
  
Within moments, Sakura felt time once again pick up and she landed HARD on the roof of the gymnasium,   
sliding down the steep incline rather violently. Shrieking, she reached out a hand just in time to grab - of all   
things - a disconnected and long out-of-service telephone cord. She skidded to a stop just feet from the edge of  
the roof, her green eyes only peering ONCE at the twenty-foot drop to the ground before she shirked away from the  
drop-off, clutching tightly to her lifeline.  
  
"Good job, Sakura!" praised Kero excitedly, spiraling high into the air as he cheered for his favorite (and  
only) cardcaptor. "I dunno if ya are just a ham for Tomoyo's camera, but that was AWESOME! Ya GOTTA do more moves  
like that!" Grinning, he imitated the brunette's freefall staff-swinging a few times, still babbling.  
  
His charge didn't listen. A breeze had picked up and blown the ends of her long white hair ribbon into her   
face, and - as she raised a hand to push it away - her eyes met Li's. He was staring up at her, his lips slightly  
parted as he stood in the middle of the now-empty basketball court, his ceremonial robes tossed by the wind.   
Something about his gaze made her - a college sophomore, an ADULT - feel suddenly embarrassed, and she blushed   
accordingly, her cheeks turning a rather becoming shade of pink. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Naoko's comment  
about how attractive he was echoed, and she couldn't help but agree as she stared at him from atop the roof.  
  
Shao-Lang Li, too, blushed slightly, glancing down at the ground rather shyly, a gesture that his rival   
would not have expected from him. "Good job, Kinomoto," he nodded, his voice just loud enough to be heard. Then,  
he took off down the sidewalk toward main campus, his back turned and his face never turning to look towards the  
girl on the roof or the abandoned gymnasium.  
  
And from her spot still standing on the sidelines, Tomoyo Daidouji smirked and shut off her video camera.  
  
===  
End Chapter 4.  
===  
  
Author's notes: I know that my updating has been rather irregular. I hope to work on making it a bit more scheduled,  
but there's this thing called "college" that tends to get in the way. I'll try my best to post a little more often,  
though. Sorry for the wait, all three of you who read this. ^^; 


	6. Chapter 5: Time After Time

For Sakura, her dream was one of those in which she instinctively knew that, yes, it  
was a dream and no reality could be that strange. But, then, at the same time, it was a dream  
that was so realistic, so possible, and so mind-boggling that she was left to wonder if it  
was a dream at all, and, if it still was really a dream, where the line between dreams and  
reality lied, anyway.  
  
It was a sunny day, and she was sitting on the ledge that surrounded the library   
roof. Well, on second thought, she was not really doing anything. The brunette on the rooftop  
looked exactly like her real self and, yet, she had a third person few of the entire scene,  
from the black pitch top of the library to the greens and golds of the springtime quad.   
Cherry blossom petals flew through on the wind and through the air, pulled from the branches  
of trees that the Japanese club had planted some years earlier. Her brown hair was ruffled  
as she perched on that ledge, her kimono - a simple light blue, traditional and elegant,   
with silver flower petals embroidered on the sleeves and around the trimming - creasing  
under the wind.  
  
Suddenly, she sprang to her feet and into action, chanting words of incantation and  
bringing into her outstretched hands the fated pink-red Staff of Sealing. Well, it was more  
her lips moved and Sakura intuitively recognized the words that she was saying. Whirling  
around, she pulled a card from her pocket and brought down the bird-headed staff, summoning  
the dormant creature that lied within.  
  
Darkness. Night had fallen, and the moon hung high in the sky as that same brown-  
haired cardcaptor stood atop the library roof. Petals still fell around her, but soon those  
petals turned the familiar burgundy-and-gold of the Clow Cards. In the distance, a black   
figure against the silver-white light of the moon, hung a man's body. At first glance, he   
appeared to be an angel, garbed in white with enormous white wings and bright white hair,  
but something about his demeanor told her that he was anything but an angel.   
  
A bell. It started off soft, like the low tones played in a hand bell choir. But   
slowly, the soft ringing slowly built, growing louder and more raucous until, finally, even  
the phantom Sakura turned around, toward the sky, and opened her mouth to say...  
  
"TURN OF THE FREAKIN' ALARM!!!"  
  
Sakura Kinomoto sat straight up in bed, her heart pounding as she came face-to-face  
with a rather annoyed orange plushie. In one paw, said plushie held a wooden spoon that  
was seeped in red liquid and, dangling from the other three, was an alarm clock. It was   
ringing wildly and continued to do so even after Keroberos dropped it into his charge's  
lap and fluttered off, indignant.  
  
Sighing, the brunette reached down and flipped the switch into the "off" position,  
leaning back into her pillows as she tried to recount the dream that had just ended. Cards,  
kimonos, and an angel-like man? What in the world had she eaten before bed to make such  
weird stuff pop into her mind?  
  
As she rose from her bed and pulled off her pajamas in preparation for her 11 am   
Myths and Legends class, she vocalized these thoughts to the Guardian Beast of the Clow.  
He - who was seated cross-legged in the center of the rug stirring what appeared to be a   
bucket full of not-yet-congealed Jello - shrugged off her concern, pausing in his culinary   
adventures to shoot her a concerned look. "Dunno," he admitted with a frown, "but I know  
dat Clow Reed used to get REAL weird dreams. Dreams 'bout his cards an' stuff." He shrugged  
a second time and turned back to his snack. "Other than that, beats me."  
  
Nodding, his charge shrugged and set her alarm clock back into its proper place on  
her desk, making sure that both the alarm itself and the five-minute delay were set into "off"  
before she went toward her closet and gathered her things for her shower. Maybe Kero was   
right, she rationalized mentally. Maybe her dream just came from an overactive imagination   
and too much thought on subjects beyond her control.  
  
Still, it was rather disconcerting when, ten minutes later, her alarm went off again,  
with the proper time of 10:00 having moved itself back to 9:50 am.  
  
========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
Chapter 5: "Time After Time"  
========================  
  
After wrestling with her possessed alarm clock and a blow dryer that seemed to   
enjoy blowing the bedroom fuse just a LITTLE too much, Sakura was finally ready for her 11 am  
at exactly 10:25 am. Sighing, she plopped down on the edge of her bed and whipped out her  
planner, ready to sit down at map out the next week of school, just like she did EVERY Monday.  
  
It had been a rather boring week, she thought to herself as she watched Kero struggle  
to drag his bucket of Jello into the tiny refrigerator in the front of the room. The  
Shadow and Mist cards had both appeared to try their luck at screwing over the young   
cardcaptor, but she had been too fast for both of them and their captures had been simple  
enough. Her guardian had spent a lot of time praising her for her many talents, but honestly,  
she didn't care that much. Things were slowing down, and - with family weekend coming in only  
a few days - the spotlight in her life had shifted from schoolwork to keeping the throng  
of unruly freshmen who lived on the floor to a dull roar as they prepared to party their  
hearts out for the week and then be good little children on the weekend.  
  
No sooner, however, had her pen hit paper when Chiharu, her normally braided hair  
an uncombed mess and her eyes rimmed with dark circles, burst into the room, a horrified   
expression on her face. "SAKURA!" she announced, nearly tripping over the open fridge and the  
bucket of red Jello as she dove to kneel at her friend's bedside. "Oh my GOD! I just spilled  
coffee on my notes and I was SO not ready for the test! You HAVE to let me borrow yours!"  
  
Green eyes blinked. "Test...?" questioned Sakura, her brow furrowing as she glanced  
down at her neighbor. "What test?"  
  
"You know, the HUGE test that Terada is giving us in about half an hour?" responded  
the frazzled student, fidgeting as she watched her friend glance down at her planner and  
start flipping pages. "PLEASE don't tell me you forgot about the test, Sakura! He's been   
reminding us constantly for the last week."  
  
For a moment, the brunette considered this, her gaze focused on the current page of  
her planner - a page that, interestingly enough, had the word "TEST!!!" circled and starred  
on that very Monday - before diving toward her backpack and tearing her notebook from its  
confines. "The TEST!!!" she roared, frantically flipping through her notes as she spoke.  
"Oh my GOD! How could I have forgotten about the test?!"  
  
Resisting her urge to slam her head into the nearest wall, Chiharu just sighed and  
started toward the door, her head shaking in shame the whole way. "History majors," she   
muttered, starting out the door. "I'll never understand them..."  
  
"Morning, Chiharu!" called Tomoyo as she flounced in through the half-open bedroom   
door, getting little more than a half-hearted wave from the crestfallen English student.  
"What's with her?" asked the graphic designer as she set her bag on her desk chair and   
collapsed into the warmth and softness of her bed. "You'd think she just watched the fall   
of Rome."  
  
Sakura muttered something about "biiiiiiig test, little time," not looking up from  
her notes even as her roommate frowned and sat up to send her a funny look.  
  
Sighing, Kero leaned heavily against the fridge door, pushing it shut. "Ignore 'er,"  
he urged, waving a paw as if to dismiss the matter. "Forgot about a HUUUUUGE test, ain't  
that right?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
The orange plushie chuckled as he fluttered up to perch on the edge of the dresser,  
his face pensive as he glanced down at the studying cardcaptor. "But ya hafta watch out,   
Sakura," he cautioned her, his normal teasing fading away into a parental tone. "I got a   
feelin' of a Clow card on its way, and I dun wanna risk more accidents, like wit' the   
Jump."  
  
As the brunette nodded her assent without ever looking away from her work, and her  
roommate laughed in her normal well-mannered way, slipping out of her bed and into her   
computer chair. "The only thing I sense is the need for me to finish my web design project,"  
she sighed, slipping on her headphones. "If anyone needs me, hit me. HARD."  
  
Her roommate nodded and still said nothing.  
  
===  
  
Footfalls pounded on pavement as Sakura jetted across campus, her usual breakfast of a   
bagel hanging halfway from her mouth as she stared up at the school's clock tower, willing  
the 11 am bell ringing to hold off and, for the first time in almost two hundred years, be  
just a LITTLE late.   
  
Her study method - ignoring the rest of the world no matter what was going on   
around her - was usually a good thing. She had learned to ignore everything from Tomoyo's   
anime club meetings to the sound of the fire alarm, which could be considered both a good   
thing and a bad thing together. This time, however, it was definitely a Bad Thing, worthy of  
all the capital letters money could buy. For she had totally ignored Kero as he called out   
to her to tell her that she was about to be late for class. She hadn't heard a word that   
came from anyone, in fact, until her cell phone started to vibrate in her pocket and she  
discovered that Rika and Chiharu were both frantically waiting her arrival in class, because  
Terada had SWORN to start on the strike of 11 from the bell tower, and it was now 10:52.   
  
The first chime sounded just as the brunette threw open the door to the social   
sciences building and, after muttering a few choice cusses, she started taking the steps   
two-by-two in hopes of making it on time. After all, who but Terada would totally flip if   
she was even the tiniest bit late? The answer was "no psychopathic teacher," and she very   
well knew it. She was also almost completely certain that Rika had ratted her out to her   
professor after the references to his flamer ways, but he had been nice enough not to   
treat her any differently than the cruel way he had BEFORE the incident ever occurred. If, of  
course, being a heartless bastard counted as being "nice enough."  
  
Three, four, six chimes, and she found herself trying to take the stairs - steep  
and entirely too narrow - by threes. This, however, ended up slowing her progress when she  
dropped her armful of books to grab onto the handrail and catch her balance. She dove for  
the books and gathered them up as quickly as she could, the seventh and eighth chimes echoing  
in her ears.  
  
The glass-paneled doors of the third floor burst open as the ninth and tenth chimes  
rang through the building, chimes that seemed to be measured in length by the number of   
footfalls that pounded through the halls. The eleventh bell rang just as Sakura peeled around  
the corner and skidded to a stop in front of room 340. The soft echo of the bell tower's  
final ding faded away as she turned the doorknob and strode into the room with all the   
grace and dignity of a high-class maven who was just late enough for it to be considered   
charming.  
  
Fifteen other sets of eyes stared up at her, and Yoshiyuki Terada - the bastard that  
he was - just smirked.  
  
"You're late, Miss Kinomoto," he noted as she pounded across the classroom and took  
up her place between Rika and Chiharu, who both sighed in unison before turning back to their  
tests. "I believe the rule is that, if you're late to my timed tests, you get 5 percent off  
your score as a deduction."  
  
Green eyes glowered at him as she reached up and snatched the test away from his   
grubby hands. "I'm about thirty SECONDS late," she informed him, digging into her pants for  
her pen.   
  
He leaned forward, his hands on the edges of her desk. His face lit up in a smirk,  
a smirk that - somehow - Sakura KNEW was one of complete triumph. "Ah, yes, but you're STILL  
late," he chided before turning away from her. "I expect the best from you, you know. Your  
father WAS my professor of ancient history back at - "  
  
"I know, I know," grumbled the brunette, cutting him off as she bent down to search  
her backpack for her pens. Backpack. She frowned when she couldn't find it sitting on the  
left side of her desk, and then frowned even MORE when she couldn't find it on the right  
side. She could remember taking her planner and then her notes out of it that morning, and  
she could remember tossing her planner back into her pack before she stashed it under her  
bed and started out of the -   
  
After her agonized howl of "I FORGOT MY BACKPACK!" had echoed through the room and  
faded into a stunned, class-wide silence, Chiharu offered her a pen.  
  
===  
  
"OhmiGOD, Sakura!" squealed Keroberos as they passed through the rather deserted   
lunch line of the campus dining room, tray loaded with pudding and pizza. The clinking of   
glasses and trays and the familiar laughter of the food service workers nearly drowned out   
the plushie's laughter, which relieved Sakura more than she would admit. Though Kero was   
becoming increasingly sure that most people paid no mind to him - after all, there were   
goths and punks and fundamentalist Christians running around, so what was the big deal about  
a talking doll? - the brunette remained certain that her older brother was starting to grow  
suspicious and, for that reason, she usually ignored him.  
  
This time, however, she couldn't help but respond. "It's not like I TRIED to be   
funny," she snorted, tossing her head as she flashed her ID card, one specially colored to  
mark her as a room-and-board free assistant hall advisor, at the lunchroom staff and started  
toward the little corner table she had piled all her junk on. "It's just one of those days."  
  
"Yeah," he admitted, turning strangely sober. "My Jello ain't gel-ized, yet."  
  
"JELLO?!" roared his charge, the tray shaking in her rage as she picked up step,  
wanting nothing more than to get to her little table and then completely throttle her toy.  
"My life is practically a living Hell, AND we BOTH sense a card, and you're running around  
worried about your GODDA - "  
  
A hand touched her shoulder right then, a tender and sweet hand that, normally,   
she would have immediately recognized and responded accordingly to. But it had been anything  
but a normal day, and so she shrieked and did the only thing she could.  
  
She smashed her tray to her chest in a protective gesture and hollered "DON'T HURT  
ME!"  
  
Brown eyes blinked several times through thick glasses as Yukito glanced down at the  
younger college student. "Are you alright, Sakura?" he questioned softly, watching with some  
amount of amusement as she peeked her scrunched-shut eyes open, afraid that she would come  
face-to-face with the Monster from the Black Lagoon rather than with her brother's best   
friend. "You seem a little...stressed out."  
  
"Oh, Tomoyo told me ALL about that one," smirked another voice, and Sakura went from  
meek to enraged as her brother came up behind his roommate, tray in hand and smirk on face.  
"I guess our little monster forgot about her big test this weekend," teased Touya in his   
usual dark tone. "And she was SO FRAZZLED that she almost didn't make it to class!"  
  
Glowering, Sakura pulled her tray from her chest and set it down on the nearest   
table so she could more affectively shake her fist at her elder sibling. "I'll have you know  
that I made it on time!" she informed him rather indignantly. "It's just that my BASTARD  
teacher - "  
  
"The one who you called gay while his fiancée was standing not three feet away?"  
  
" - declared me late. LATE!" She moved to toss her hair, which would have been a   
very dramatic and angsty move...had a piece of pizza not fallen from her chest and landed on  
her sneakers at that moment.  
  
Grimacing, Sakura glanced down at her shirt, only to find that her screaming match  
had landed her entire lunch - pizza, pudding, and pink lemonade - on the front of her shirt.  
By some miracle, however, she hadn't noticed until that very moment, and that made her face  
turn even REDDER.  
  
Touya just sighed and, smiling like a little boy who had just played a VERY mean   
trick on someone, shook his head before starting toward a nearby table. "C'mon, Yuki," he  
called after his light-haired friend. "Let's leave Amazing Grace over there to her own   
devices."  
  
For a moment, Yukito looked ready to follow his roommate, but then he stopped.   
Setting his tray down on an empty table, he reached up and pulled off his big, bulky college  
sweatshirt - the very one that she had given him for his birthday the year before - and   
handed it to her. "Just so you don't feel like a total goof," he smiled, ruffling her hair  
before he took off after his best friend. "I'll see you later, Sakura."  
  
As soon as his back was turned, Keroberos peeled himself off the cardcaptor's left  
breast and fluttered up to hang in her gaze. "Ya gone and scarred me for life, Sakura."  
  
"Yu - ki - to...."  
  
"Sakura?"  
  
"Yu - ki - to...."  
  
"Ya listenin'?"  
  
"Aaaaaaaaaaah.... Yu - ki - to...."  
  
"SAKURA?!"  
  
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...."  
  
===  
  
Bad seemed to go to worse as Sakura bumbled through her Spanish history class in  
the afternoon, angering her professor to a degree that nearly got her kicked out of the   
room. Of course, it wasn't HER fault that he was an undereducated moron paid only to teach  
the language and not the history of Spain, but - as a classmate had reminded her after the  
period had ended - sometimes it's not the best thing to point out a teacher's inadequacies  
in the middle of the lecture, no matter how blaring and obvious they may be. She slunk from  
the building in horrible spirits, calling up her father on her cell phone on hopes of   
ranting and raving about the terrible faculty at her top-rated university. But her father  
was nowhere to be found, causing her even MORE frustration.  
  
"I don't believe you don't feel it more fully," snorted Shao-Lang Li in a rather   
irritable voice, shifting the weight of his laptop case from one shoulder to the other as   
he spoke. "What are you, stupid or something?"  
  
She had been almost halfway to her dorm building when a hand had touched her shoulder,  
and - after a scream of "HOE?!" that echoed across all of campus and the dropping of all her  
text books - Shao-Lang had requested an audience with his arch rival. Of course, she would  
rather have had kissed Terada, and she told him so to his face, but the brown-haired man   
took no notice and insisted on walking beside her, step-for-step.   
  
So much for surviving the day unscathed.  
  
Sighing, the brunette woman stuck her hands in her pockets and gave a slight shrug  
. "I'm just a little busy of late," she responded, trying her hardest not   
to snap his head off at the neck. "I mean, besides catching cards, I am Naoko's assistant  
and I also do have these things called CLASSES on my plate." Her scowl was met by one from   
him, and she allowed it to fade away to mere frustration. "The truth is, even though I was  
able to catch the Shadow and Mist cards without your help, I'm a really lousy cardcaptor.  
I'm only in this because it's my own damn fault in the first place that the cards got out,   
and I have to make it up somehow."  
  
"Nobody's perfect," acquiesced the man with a half-shrug, a spark of what could have  
been either sympathy or gas sparking on his face as they paused in the middle of the   
sidewalk, standing face-to-face. There was a certain ruddiness to her cheeks he hadn't   
expected to see and, as much as he hated to admit it, he suddenly felt guilty for all the   
times he had heckled her, especially lately. The last week had been stressful, and now -  
with parent's weekend coming and being directly followed by midterms - he couldn't help  
but pity her. "Still, you do know that you made this into your quest. And I'm not going to   
take it from you unless you prove yourself a very worthy competitor. After all -   
  
"WATCH OUT!" called a voice, and Sakura whirled around just in time to see a frisbee  
whirling in their direction. The woman, true to her form, shrieked and ducked out of the   
way, covering her head with her hands. Her books went flying as she ducked for cover. Her  
companion, however, caught the blue disc effortlessly and, with a simple flick of his wrist,   
sent it back toward the freshman boys who had let it get so far off course.   
  
One of them, a particularly jocky-looking and with a football jersey on over his   
sweatshirt, nodded his thanks, completely ignoring Li's continued instruction on how he   
should try to be more careful when he's playing in such a busy area.   
  
With a shake of his head, the young man bent over and plucked up Sakura's dropped  
history books, handing them to her. "You really need to stop spazzing out so often," he   
informed her rather plainly, ignoring her scowl as she snatched away her texts. "What kind  
of worthy rival has absolutely no idea how to do anything, hmm?"  
  
Her scream of "JACKASS!" was heard across the quad and even from within some of the  
nearby classrooms, earning herself school-wide fame as the loudest sophomore on campus.  
  
===  
  
"This day is quite possibly going to go down as the worst day of my life," muttered  
Sakura irritably, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she rattled off in a quick e-mail  
to her father. The doctor had sent her a message that afternoon, commenting that both he and  
Touya were worrying about her.   
  
'Your brother said you were screaming at a stuffed toy,' the e-mail had read, her   
father's voice piping up in the back of her head as her eyes mulled over the familiar   
eloquence. 'Somehow, that doesn't sound much like you. I want the best for you, Cherry   
Blossom. If something's wrong, you should talk to your big brother, or to me. We'll take   
care of you, promise.'  
  
Leaning back in her seat, the brunette flicked the scroll button on her mouse a few  
times as she double-checked her spelling and grammar. She hit the last line of the message  
and frowned; somehow, saying "And rest assured that I would rather die than discuss my   
personal problems with Touya" seemed a bit...inappropriate, so she reworded it to say that   
she just didn't have anything wrong enough to bother her brother about, and then signed it  
and clicked the send button.  
  
"It was closer to the truth before, though," she thought aloud, yawning as she   
glanced at her watch. 9 pm. Why was it she always got so much more tired on the nights that  
sucked? "Why in the world did this day suck so much?"  
  
A pair of warm arms encircled her neck from behind, and the brunette smiled as she   
leaned into her best friend's embrace. "It did NOT suck," Tomoyo corrected her in her normal,  
happy tone, freeing up her buddy after a moment of huggling. "I finished my project, and there  
is NO way I'm going to get anything less than an A on it."  
  
"You sound sure of yourself," chuckled her roommate, rising out of her seat. "What,  
did you bribe your professor or something?"  
  
Tossing her slippers at her friend, Tomoyo made a face. "You're so mean!" she   
protested rather loudly. "It just so happens that I have been working diligently on this  
project for the last month and I am totally happy with the result. That's all." She slipped  
on her headphones and shot the brunette a V-for-victory sign. "Now I can return to my   
mindless downloading of bootleg! Viva la warez!"  
  
Sakura just rolled her eyes and began to change out of her jeans and into her   
pajamas. Kero, having discovered that his six packages of Jello had not yet formed into one  
mass, decided it would be best to go out for the evening and had left through the window,  
promising to be back before midnight. She wrinkled her nose as she lobbed her pants into her   
fold-up hamper and, true to her form, missed miserably. What was going on? She could feel  
the Clow card, nagging at her, watching her and challenging her, but, at the very same time,   
she couldn't feel anything. She slipped on her favorite pajama top - a tiny pink tank top with  
little flowers around the bottom edge - and trekked across her room in only her panties,  
bending over to pick up her pants.  
  
"Sakura!" called a voice, and the brunette turned her head to glance between her legs  
toward the voice. The door had opened quickly to reveal two pairs of feet. One pair wore   
purple-and-white striped slippers, and she could recognize those feet to belong to her dear  
friend Rika. But the other pair... Who in the WORLD wore brown loafers and gray dress slacks?  
  
Unless...  
  
"HOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEE!!!!" shrieked the brunette, her face turning about twelve shades  
of red as she reached into her hamper to pull something - ANYTHING - from it and therefore  
cover her completely bare legs, as well as her blue bikini-cut underwear. Professor Terada's  
face was equally red, and, though his eyes were NOW adverted, it was clear that he had just  
seen his least favorite student on an intimacy level he would have rather gone without.  
  
Rika grimaced and blushed softly as she watched her friend, a tiny hand towel hanging   
across her waist like a makeshift loincloth, inch across the room and tug on her pink PJ  
pants. "Sorry," she apologized, swallowing as she felt the blush on her face increase. "I   
didn't think you'd be changing."  
  
Never looking away from the computer, Sakura's dark-haired roommate shrugged slightly.  
"We've discussed it plenty of times," she commented rather nonchalantly, "and - whereas I  
would like to star in an amateur lesbian gang-bang - she's a big fan of being part of a   
voyeuristic porn shoot."  
  
"TOMOYO!" As both her own face as well as her teacher's went from red to completely  
white, the brunette sophomore brushed her hair from her eyes and forced a charming smile.  
"So, uhm...." She glanced at Rika rather suspiciously, suddenly realizing that it wasn't  
just any co-ed pair in her room, but rather her friend and her PROFESSOR. "Did you guys  
want something?"  
  
Lowering his eyes, Terada shot his student a look that DISTINCTLY questioned her   
right to ask him a question in such familiar terms. His fiancée then took it upon herself  
to elbow him HARD in the ribs and, after a brief coughing fit, he stood up to his full height  
and straightened his polo shirt. "Rika was curious if you would care to join us for ice cream.  
She thought that, perhaps, I was a bit harsh this morning and suggested that I make it up to   
you by buying you the dessert of your choice."  
  
Brown eyes darted toward the man, lowering dangerously. "A BIT harsh, Yoshi?" asked a   
rather skeptical young woman. "I thought we both agreed that you were just playing the   
devil's advocate because Doctor Kinomoto once marked you down on a term paper you turned in two  
hours late, hmmm?"  
  
"Dad did that?" giggled Sakura, moving to cover her mouth before she could offend her  
teacher too much. But the damage was already done and, after a grunt, Terada took off down the  
hall, muttering something about ingrates and "kids these days." Grimacing, the history major  
frowned apologetically at her neighbor. "Sorry, Rika," she fretted. "I didn't think he'd blow  
up like that."  
  
Rolling her eyes, the auburn-haired one shrugged slightly. "Yoshiyuki's been rather   
grumpy lately," she explained as she made her way toward the door, resting her hand on the   
knob as she glanced back at her friend. "He's been trying to get into this doctoral program  
and, when he asked your father to write him a letter of recommendation, he was told that it  
probably wasn't the best of ideas." She paused, smirking slightly. "He was pretty wild as a   
college student. Almost got kicked out of New York State three or four times."   
  
"REALLY?" gaped Sakura, her eyeballs nearly falling out of their sockets. "But he's   
so... So..."  
  
"Anal-retentive?" supplied Tomoyo with a smile as she continued to type away at her  
computer.  
  
"...now..." trailed off the sophomore as she watched her friend smile and chuckle   
slightly. "Maybe Dad will meet with Yosh - Professor Terada - during parent's weekend," she  
suggested with a shrug. "I'll try to put in a good word for him, 'kay?"  
  
Rika smiled. "Thanks," she nodded, ducking out of the room and letting the door shut  
slowly behind her.  
  
For a few seconds after the door shut, Sakura stared at it, expecting it to burst   
gloriously open and reveal Takashi, Shao-Lang, or maybe even Yukito. But the door did not open  
and she sighed, moving to collapse into her bed.   
  
"What a day!" she sighed. "I'm so glad that it's OVER! Tomorrow just HAS to be better!"  
  
Tomoyo smiled, nodded, and then turned back to her work, Sakura's exhausted snores   
echoing behind her.  
  
===  
  
The fall air was cool and crisp against his body as he perched on the edge of the   
dorm building's roof, glancing down at the silent, abandoned quad below. For a school of over  
2000 students, it sure did quiet down quickly. Now, at about ten till midnight, not a single  
wandering soul remained... Well, excepting himself, of course. He didn't quite count...did   
he?  
  
In the quiet of the night, it was a lot easier to think. About life and cards and   
certain brown-haired girls that were completely clueless. Well, no, he had to take that back.  
Sakura was not COMPLETELY clueless. She was actually very intelligent, and it was a trait that  
he really admired in her. She could be a bumbler, sure, but she got the job done. After all,  
she had managed to nab two cards with hardly any guidance. It had surprised him, and in its  
own way it had been a rather pleasant surprise. Would he have liked to be part and party to the  
captures? Sure. But if that wasn't the way things went, so be it.  
  
What was Clow thinking? The wind ruffled his wings and he shivered, drawing them in  
closer to his back. For the cards to be released... Clow must be trying to contact them from  
the other side. But why? What was so important? Those cards had been his life's work, his one  
true passion in life. Why would he have let them slip away like that? They would remain forever  
loyal to his wishes. Or they would have, had Sakura not come along.  
  
"Sakura..." His voice was a whisper at first but, as he began to hear the familiar   
chiming of the college bell tower, the whisper faded, and he grimaced. "I went an' promised  
to get home by midnight!" groaned Keroberos, standing and stretching, his wings unfurling to   
their full, six-inch span as he tested them against the strong fall wind. "If dat chica closed  
them windows, I SWEAR I'm gonna - "  
  
He froze, feeling the power that was Clow's magic wash over him. A card! But where...  
Black eyes peered into the darkness, black eyes narrowed to slits, black eyes that, like   
two onyx beads, shone in the night. Nothing. The final chime sounded, announcing it to be   
midnight, and he sighed. The magic was gone, falling away into nothingness. "I'm losin' my   
ever-lovin' MIND," sighed the Guardian of the Clow Cards, hopping off the edge of the roof  
and fluttering down toward his charge's waiting window. "After all the cards are caught, I'm   
takin' a MIGHTY long vacation in the tropics."  
  
The content smile of a plushie dreaming of the Bermudas faded, however, when the   
midnight chimes started a SECOND time and he found that the window, once open, had been   
firmly locked behind him.  
  
===  
  
"I don't know WHAT you are talking about, Kero," sighed Sakura as she pulled her   
shoulder-length brown bob into two tiny pigtails, tousling them slightly. She gave herself  
a once-over in the mirror. Not bad, she smiled to herself as she ran her lip gloss across her  
lips and puckered them, offering her reflection a sort of half-kiss. Now, if only Yukito were  
around to see how cute she looked this particular morning...  
  
The plushie, who was seated on the edge of her mirror, shot her an EXTREMELY dirty  
look. "Ya mean ya DIDN'T go and lock them windows shut after eatin' all my Jello?!" he   
retorted, crossing his arms over his stuffed chest as he glowered at her. "And if it wasn't  
you, than who? That Jello-eatin', window-closin' GHOST of the buildin'?"  
  
"GHOST?!" Green eyes blossomed to the size of small planets, and Sakura's backpack fell  
from her hands and onto the floor with a thump. "But, I thought the ghost was in the all-male  
dorm!" she shrieked, running to grip her guardian around the neck and shake him furiously. "Why  
didn't anyone else tell me that there was a ghost in our dorm? WHY!"  
  
"I...was...just...kiddin'..." choked the plushie. "There...ain't...no...ghost..."  
  
She frowned at him and deposited him back onto the edge of the mirror, shooting him a   
rather dirty look as she went to pick up her pack and finish loading it. "You're NOT funny,"   
she told him coolly, zipping up the bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Now, I have an 11  
today, too, and I don't want to be late." She wrinkled her nose. "Professor Umiko isn't NEARLY   
as evil as Terada, but the last thing I want to do is - "  
  
"SAKURA!" The door, as it had a habit of doing, burst open, and the orange toy fell   
lifeless to the dresser top as Chiharu, her braids down around her chest, skidded to a halt  
in front of her friend. "Oh my GOD! I just spilled coffee on my notes and I was SO not ready   
for the test! You HAVE to let me borrow yours!"  
  
For a moment, the history major was forced to just blink, the overwhelming sense of   
déja vu almost overpowering. Hadn't she said almost the EXACT same thing the day before? And,  
had she NOT said the same thing the day before, then why was she worrying about Terada's test  
a day too late...?  
  
Finally, in a bolt of inspiration, Sakura tossed her head and laughed, her ribs aching  
by the time she was over her guffaw-fest. "Good one, Chiharu!" she giggled, patting the other  
young woman on the shoulder. "For a moment, you had me going there! I almost thought that maybe  
Terada's test WAS today, and that my version of Monday had been a dream!" She laughed again,  
but her laughter slowly came to a halt as she realized that the other girl was just staring  
at her, looking as though she was a doe in headlights.  
  
The brunette swallowed. HARD. "Uhm... Chiharu, are you okay? I think you've kinda,   
uhhh, stopped blinking..."  
  
After a quick shake of her head, Chiharu lowered her brown eyes at her friend and   
sighed. "You know, your offbeat sense of humor is really a pain in the ass sometimes," she   
commented, tossing the door back open and striding out into the hall. She would have, in fact,  
slammed it had Tomoyo not come in at that very moment, looking rather perplexed.  
  
"Is everything okay with her?" she asked, blinking purple eyes after their mutual friend.  
"She looked like she'd just finished watching the fall of Rome." She paused, resting her hands   
on her hips, watching as Sakura just stared at her, her jaw gaping open. "What?" she squeaked,  
frowning. "Was it something I said?"  
  
Shaking her head, Sakura slipped on the other strap of her backpack. "Well, anyway,  
I'm out of here," she informed her roommate, stuffing her key ring in her pocket as she spoke.  
"I'll be back after lunch, 'kay?"  
  
Tomoyo smiled and nodded. "I'll be here, finishing up my web design project." She   
winked and pulled on her headphones as she started running her fingers across her keyboard.  
"If anyone needs me, hit me. HARD."  
  
After a moment of staring and an incoherent squeaking sound that only dogs could hear,  
the brunette slunk out the door, muttering about how history was NOT supposed to repeat itself  
THAT literally.  
  
===  
  
The art history classroom was a dingy, poorly-lit hole in the back wall of the music  
building, or that was at least how Sakura saw it. The music building was, like the ancient and  
abandoned gymnasium, a member of the national register of historic landmarks and, though the   
school had gotten around law and managed to update its crumbling facade and most the heating   
problems, they couldn't convince the state of New York to give them permission to add on a   
much-needed art department. So the art history teachers - after whining and complaining for   
years - had been granted use of what had once been an auxiliary auditorium, despite the fact  
that the area was hardly large enough for a single classroom, let alone the three that had been  
built in its place.  
  
Ducking into the darkened half of a hallway that made up the art department, the   
brunette sighed and shook her head. What in the world was going on around her? First, she had  
had the day from Hell and, as though that wasn't enough, her windows had closed on Kero and   
his Jello had disappeared. And was it her imagination, or had Chiharu and Tomoyo sprouted   
rewind buttons and repeated the previous day's antics?  
  
She managed to shrug off the odd happenings as dumb luck and turned the doorknob to the  
art history classroom (once a prop closet), a glorious ten minutes early for class.   
  
Which is why her jaw dropped when she found herself being stared at by a group of  
fifteen freshmen, all of whom were busy taking a test.  
  
Her teacher, a straggly-looking gray-haired woman who had a habit of wearing sandals   
with socks, glanced dubiously at her before looking down at her watch, frowning as she did   
so. "Sakura, you're about 24 hours early for class," she noted, looking back up at the brunette.  
"Was this a rough weekend?"  
  
"But it's Tuesday!" protested the young woman, her mouth gaping open as she watched   
her professor just shake her head in dismay, a very common motion. "I swear it is! Yesterday,  
you see, I had to take Terada's test from HELL, and then I dropped my lunch on my chest, and..."  
She stopped in her explanation and frowned, realizing how absolutely idiotic she must have   
sounded. In fact, a few of the freshmen had begun to snicker, smirking as they glanced up from  
their tests.  
  
Sighing, Sakura wrinkled her nose but said nothing more about the previous day's   
happenings. "I'm sorry to bother you," she apologized, walking backwards as she headed toward  
the door to the classroom. "I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
She had no idea if her teacher had nodded or not, because as soon as the words were   
out of her mouth she had slipped out of the door and into the dingy hallway, confusion and  
embarrassment both mounting in the back of her mind. How could it still be Monday? Admittedly,  
she'd had a few visions in her lifetime - a trait, her father often said, that she and her  
brother had inherited from their late mother - but every time she did, her descriptions of the  
event or events in her mind were refuted by the people around her. This time, Keroberos had been  
the one to first start obsessing about Monday's happenings. He, in fact, remembered everything  
- his Jello, particularly - as though it had happened yesterday, which made sense, because it  
HAD... Hadn't it?  
  
Her head started to hurt the more she thought about it, and she tossed open the doors  
to the music building and vowed that she would never think about it again. Perhaps the day   
before had been Sunday, and she had just imagined Terada's class. Or maybe it was a dream,   
after all, and she just didn't realize it. But then, Kero...  
  
"Hoooooooooooooeee," she moaned, depressing the button at the stoplight and waiting   
rather impatiently for it to turn. She had just promised herself that she wasn't going to   
think about it, and now look. She WAS thinking about it, all the same. It was like she was in   
junior high again, and her father had told her not to go rollerblading down the biggest hill   
in Buffalo. And what had she done?  
  
But then, that time, she had broken her arm. What would happen to her this time, when   
she was not going down a hill but meddling with time itself?  
  
The answer scared her.  
  
The light, however, did not, and she crossed the street with her hands in her back   
pockets and her mind wandering aimlessly. Even without considering the issue with the magically  
disappearing Monday, there was still the question of the nagging that both she and the Guardian  
of the Clow felt in their stomachs. There was a card nearby - somewhere on campus - and it  
WAS active. But what could it be? She had captured the Shadow card on her own, and it had been  
completely harmless - it had simply been making shadow-creatures using the light from street  
lamps, though Kero had been SURE that it would be meaner than that if provoked. The Mist card,  
however, had descended upon the campus in a thick fog, and had eaten through half the trees  
on the quad before she had come to claim it. And even then, it had been a close call -   
Rainy and Windy had to be used to catch it. What about this card? Would it be something  
harmless, like Shadow, or something vile, like Mist? Or perhaps something like Rain or Fly,  
in between?  
  
Chimes sounded across campus and she sighed, stalking up the sidewalk toward her   
dormitory without really thinking about what time it was. If it wasn't Tuesday, she could just  
go home and nap, she decided, because there certainly wasn't anything better for her to -  
  
She paused, frowning. It wasn't Tuesday, that was right. It was still Monday. And  
Monday meant -   
  
"SHIT!"  
  
And, though she ran as fast as she could, she was STILL just under a minute late for   
Terada's history test.  
  
===  
  
"Whadda MEAN that this ain't Tuesday?" blinked the plushie rather loudly as Sakura   
filled her glass with soda, and she waved a hand at him to try to quite him down. The cafeteria  
was just as busy as it had been the day before, and once again, she was both surprised and   
grateful that no one noticed the loud-mouthed toy on her tray. "Sakura, it's Tuesday," Kero   
hissed through locked teeth as he glanced around at the busy cafeteria. "Don'tcha remember   
yesterday?"  
  
She grimaced at the lunchtime memories, her nose wrinkling. "I remember it," she sighed,  
though she would have rather forgotten, to be honest, "but no one else does. And no one   
remembers anything ELSE that happened yesterday... It's like yesterday never happened to   
everyone who isn't you or me." She paused long enough to flash her card at the cafeteria   
woman, just as she had the day before, and started across the cafeteria toward the table she  
always sat at. "It really bothers me, Kero, and I think - "  
  
A hand touched her shoulder just then and she turned around, her green eyes lowering   
at the dark-haired man who she knew was looming BEHIND the smiling, sweet, happy Yukito   
Tsukishiro who had touched her to catch her attention. "Don't start with me, Touya," she   
snapped, not waiting for the coming name-calling that always accompanied her run-ins with her  
older brother. "I don't want to hear it."  
  
Yukito's brown eyes blinked as the ever-looming Touya smirked something terrible and,   
having set his tray down on a nearby table, eyed his sister up and down as though she had just  
told him that she was not Sakura Kinomoto but rather Brittany Spears. "What's this I hear   
about our little monster not making it to class on time?" teased the taller man. "How mad was   
Terada, hmmm?"  
  
"Shut UP," snapped his sister, moving to jab him in the chest with her pointer finger.  
"I thought it was Tuesday, if you MUST know, and went to art class instead. Anything else?"  
Sighing, she shook her head. "Just, please, Touya, give me this ONE DAY off from your teasing.  
Alright?"  
  
The gray-haired young man smiled and moved to ruffle the girl's hair. "Don't worry,  
Sakura," he assured her, her green eyes lighting up as soon as she realized that his attentions  
were completely centered on her and only her. "I will make SURE that nasty ol' Touya stays  
off your case for the rest of the day."  
  
She thanked him and started for her table.  
  
Now, Sakura usually had no problem avoiding her brother's idiotic pranks, even those   
that he wasn't supposed to play. It had become a habit more than anything else; ever since the  
first grade, when he had put a garden snake in her spaghetti when their father's back was   
turned, she had learned when to tell he was up to something and when he was not. This trend  
continued through all of elementary, junior high, and high school, and even now - in her   
second year of college, no less - she was still being submitted to things popping out of her  
closet or letters that were filled with confetti that spilled everywhere. She blamed part of  
this on Tomoyo, who seemed to be her brother's partner in crime ninety-nine percent of the time.  
  
Whatever the case, this particular time, she didn't really figure on her brother  
trying a prank. After all, she had just given him a verbal bitch-slap! Why in the world would  
he dare cross her after she had ripped his head off and succeeded on getting Yukito on her   
side? The answer was a mystery, perhaps made to forever be a secret.  
  
What was not a secret, though, was that Touya - for reasons of his own - stuck his   
foot out in front of his nineteen-year-old sister that day in the cafeteria, and that very same  
sister tripped over it and, with little more than an "oomph," landed flat on her face...and  
her lunch tray.  
  
"Sakura!" gasped Yukito, bending down to offer her a hand. When she didn't stir, his  
voice became frantic, almost panicked. "Sakura, are you alright?"  
  
Her voice was muffled, but still strong and full of conviction as she uttered her   
three-word response.  
  
"I hate Mondays."  
  
===  
  
After the incident in the cafeteria that afternoon, and the following Spanish history  
lecture that had caused her to raise the same complaints she had the day before, Sakura decided   
that it would be best to avoid human interaction, rather than to seek it out. Though Yukito had  
relinquished his sweatshirt to cover up the stain of pizza sauce and pudding, the sophomore's   
mood was still surprisingly dark, much more so than it had been the day before. So she sulked   
off to the computer center and chose a far-off corner computer, nestled between the copy  
machine and the large, computer-center picture window, to start on her term paper for Terada's   
evil, vile class-from-Hell. After all, she didn't dare venture out in public. Not now, and   
possibly never again.  
  
But the picture window overlooked the quad, and she found herself staring out at the   
freshmen who were playing frisbee, rather than paying attention to her homework. They were   
laughing and knocking into one another as it seemed only males could, and somehow, it brought a  
half smile to her face. Funny, she thought to herself as she forced her eyes from the window   
and toward the blinking cursor on the computer screen. Yesterday - or in that previous version   
of today, as it were - she had been too busy talking to Shao-Lang to notice their antics.  
  
"LI!" she exclaimed aloud, causing a few of the other computer lab dwellers to turn and   
glance at her, eyebrows raised. The brunette sunk into her seat with a blush, outwardly   
embarrassed as her mind raced. She had nearly forgotten about Li, her constant antagonist and   
rival for the cards! Did he remember the Monday that had already happened, too? Kero had said   
that the Li family was descended from the bloodline of Clow Reed, and she had certainly seen   
that power when they battled the Thunder Card. If it could even be called a power.  
  
So, then... She drummed her fingers on the keys, just enough to make a noise, lost in   
thought. How could she have been so dumb to avoid him when he could feasibly be the only   
person - barring, of course, talking plush does - to support her insanity? Would he be gone   
yet? Could she catch up to -  
  
"Kinomoto." The voice was cool and calm, nothing surprising about it, and yet she still   
gave a start as she was pulled from her thoughts. Turning, she glanced up to meet a pair of   
brown eyes that had, of all things, shaggy brown bangs hanging into them. And then, they   
glimmered, and the face she saw smirked. "You spaz," snorted Shao-Lang Li with a toss of his   
head as she sighed and sunk back into her seat, relieved that it wasn't some sort of crazy come   
to claim her. "Why weren't you in the quad, just now?"  
  
Sakura scowled at him. The coolness of his voice had given way to a pompous twang, and   
she wasn't particularly fond of it. "What reason do I have to be in the quad?" she returned,   
playing dumb as she turned back to her computer. She began to type anything she could think of   
onto the screen, hoping that it would end up making some sense. "I have a major paper due for   
Professor Terada at the end of the term, so I decided to come up here and work on it."  
  
"When you have a brand new computer in your room?" countered he coolly, and she cast her   
eyes down at her textbook in hopes of hiding her blush. "Think about it, Kinomoto. You walked   
through the quad with me yesterday, and we were almost nailed by a frisbee. The frisbee players   
are there today, too, aren't they?" She said nothing, and he pressed on. "You were wearing the   
same sweatshirt, carrying the same books, and - "  
  
A clatter sounded, and they both turned in time to see something white slide down the   
window and out of sight. One of the frisbee guys, a frown the size of a small country on his   
face, trotted slowly up to the window and, after sending the duo an apologetic glance, bent   
over to pick something up. As he strode away with the frisbee, Sakura felt a shiver run up her   
spine, and somehow she doubted that it had been caused by the weather.  
  
"Everything that happened yesterday has happened today, except when altered by the two   
of us," continued Li, as though nothing had interrupted his speech. "You were still late to   
your test, and you still spilled your lunch, STILL ticked off your teacher - "  
  
"How did you hear about that?" she roared, once again gaining the attention of the   
others in the lab.  
  
" - and now you still were in the danger zone of a frisbee, which was blocked solely by   
the windowpane." She was staring at her book, unmoving. "Tell me, Sakura - do your Mondays   
normally repeat themselves, right down to what your friends SAY?" His adversary said nothing,  
so he pressed on, leaning close to her, their faces nearly touching. "Today is a repeated   
version of yesterday, changing only in places were YOU altered the events. Everything else has  
run exactly as it did yesterday...well, except for the frisbee thing, but I think it was   
meant to come our way."  
  
She turned to face him, their noses nearly touching. His breath was soft against her  
face, tickling her lips, and for a moment she was convinced that he was going to lean in and  
kiss her, just like something out of a B romance movie. "You're right," she whispered, her   
green eyes locking with his brown. "Kero said the exact same thing you did, and... I don't know.  
It seems to weird to be coincidence, but I'm not sure I can write it off as a card. Not yet,  
anyway."  
  
Li backed away from her suddenly, scowling. Sakura was only half-certain that her   
words caused his sudden discomfort. "Well, I suppose we can wait it out," he finally said,  
the silence between them causing him to fidget slightly. He turned his back to her, face   
solemn. "Have a good - "  
  
"We?" The brunette had only been half-listening when the word came up, and it surprised  
her. Not many things surprised her, anymore - it was hard to be surprised when you were the   
woman in charge of capturing a bunch of neurotic magical cards - but somehow... Somehow,   
his words surprised her. "Since when has this been a team effort?"  
  
They must have surprised him, too, because he stopped in mid-step and stiffened. "It's  
not," he responded coolly, tossing his head a bit as he spoke. "I just meant, since both of   
us are aware of the repetition and no one else is, that we, as a collective of two people apart  
from the rest, will be the only ones dealing with the oddities that have occurred." And then,  
he was gone, rushing out of the room like the fires of Hell were on his tail, and hungry.  
  
Sakura's expression darkened as the door to the computer lab slowly crept closed, and it  
would be several weeks before she began to consider that maybe - just MAYBE - Shao-Lang Li had  
been BS-ing.  
  
===  
  
Surprisingly, Sakura found that the third time was the charm - or at least, living a day  
three times through made it much easier to survive. She studied for Terada's test after   
returning home from the computer lab and - though she DID still get walked in on by her   
professor while she was changing - woke up in ample time the next morning. Chiharu had  
been GREATFUL for the notes, the bagels in the cafeteria tasted better when she wasn't rushing  
to scarf them down, and arriving fifteen minutes early for the dreaded text put a surprised   
expression Terada's usually straight face. Lunch went well, too; she had even eaten with her   
brother and his roommate, a move that caused Touya to go googly-eyed while Yukito simply   
smiled his sweet smile and chatted pleasantly with her for the entire meal. He had even offered  
up his sweatshirt freely this time, saying that it was awfully cold outside for her to be   
wearing a t-shirt. She slipped it on and waltzed off into euphoria, her happiness causing her   
to also overlook the evils of her Spanish professor - though, in retrospect, she was mildly   
sorry she had.  
  
But history continued to repeat itself, and therefore she was not surprised when   
Shao-Lang Li saddled up to her as she walked toward her dorm, his hands in his pockets and a  
confused look on his face. "I really think it's a card," he said after they stood in silence  
for a moment, side-by-side as they watched the frisbee players again. "I don't really feel   
it, this time, but... It has to be. Nothing else can make time react in ways such as this."  
  
"I think you're right," agreed the brunette, sighing slightly. Her green eyes drifted  
to glance up at him. "But what do we do about it? I can't sense it well enough to locate it,  
and - "  
  
"There are ways." He turned, standing face-to-face with her, and his voice dropped as  
he spoke. "Meet me here, in the quad, at eleven tonight. I'll see what I can do about finding  
the card."  
  
She smirked slightly, moving to brush a strand of hair from her eyes. "You mean you're  
not going to catch it all by yourself?" she returned coolly. "You'll allow me to help you out?"  
  
Li bristled and frowned slightly. "There are some things," he responded with a toss of  
his head, "that not even I can do on my own. And this just happens to be one of them. Alright?"  
  
For a moment, Sakura considered a smart-alec comment, something to get him back for  
all his rude jibes and comments. But, then again, did he really deserve that kind of treatment?  
He had been fairly integral to the capture of the Thunder card, she realized with an inward  
scowl, and maybe... Maybe she would need him, just as he needed her. Maybe a joined effort   
would be the only way for them to beat whatever card was causing these problems for them.  
  
Not that it mattered, of course. Because at that very moment, out of what seemed to   
be the clear blue sky, a white frisbee nailed her in the side of the head and knocked all of  
her thoughts - positive, negative, and neutral - from her head.  
  
===  
  
"Owwwww," moaned the brunette woman loudly, her high heels clicking on the pavement   
as she crossed the campus and headed toward the abandoned quad. Above them, the moon hung low  
in the sky, illuminating even the parts of the sidewalk that weren't caught by the streetlamps.  
Not that she was concerned about the darkness; no, she was mostly considered with the enormous  
goose-egg on her left temple. Or, if not, she was concerned about the hideous outfit her   
roommate - and camera woman, she noted with an inner groan - had put together for her THIS  
week. "Tomoyo, can't you just - for ONCE? - put the camera down?"  
  
The one purple eye that was not hidden behind the digital camera's viewer blinked,  
though Saukra was more than certain the other had, too. "But you're my project!" she exclaimed,  
as though that were the answer to everything. "If I stop filming you, what will I do my   
final project on?"  
  
"Trees," suggested her roommate, irritated as the wind tried, once again, to flip up  
her tiny black skirt, as well as the white chiffon underneath, "or flowers. Maybe birds, or   
dogs, or ANYONE else on campus."  
  
"But Sakura," chuckled Tomoyo sweetly, "why would I film something so ugly when I can   
film the most beautiful thing on the face of the Earth?"  
  
Frowning, the brown-haired one did not press the matter, but that was mostly because   
they had finally come upon the quad. It was empty, as it almost always was Monday nights - if   
it was still Monday, and time hadn't changed and made it Friday, just to spite her - save for  
one shadowed figure in the middle of the grassy field. He was dressed all in the green   
ceremonial robes of a family descended from a long line of martial artists, and in his hands he  
held out something that looked similar to a Chinese checker board. From the board poured light -  
red and green and yellow - and the light flashed about, in many directions, as if searching for  
something.  
  
Sakura's jaw nearly hit the pavement as she watched the lights slowly merge and combine  
into one steady stream of white. The white moved slowly around the board, circling the campus  
until, finally, it came to point in one direction - the direction of the college's ancient  
bell tower.  
  
"You're late, Kinomoto," sighed Shao-Lang Li as he slipped the board behind his back.  
She tried not to suppose that the board had disappeared entirely from existence, but yet, it   
seemed as though it had. He took a few steps closer to her and then paused, his brow furrowing.  
For a moment, he was silent, just staring with a confused look on his face, and then, he did  
something unexpected.  
  
He burst out laughing.  
  
Her jaw tightening, the brunette woman took a deep breath and tried to control her   
temper. After all, she WAS wearing a French maid outfit, completely with frilly black skirt  
and chiffon under-skirts, and had her hair pulled back by a fluffy black-and-white headband.  
Tomoyo had called it "Maid To Capture Cards" - or, at least, that's what the tag she had   
printed off her computer said - but her roommate thought it was just plain UGLY. Not that she  
would have said that aloud, of course.  
  
Tossing her hair, Sakura looked away from him and toward the bell tower. "So, did your  
Ouija Board to find out where the card was, or was that just a cheap pyrotechnics show?" she  
questioned, smirking as he stopped laughing to glare at her. Still, she could almost FEEL the   
video camera on her, and it caused her to shudder a bit.  
  
"If you MUST know, it's called a Rashinban," he spat, stalking toward the bell tower,  
his robes fluttering behind him as he pushed past the Cardcaptor. "It's a special talisman   
that is passed down by the Li family from generation from generation."  
  
She stepped quickly to keep up with him, but said nothing more. Behind her, Kero   
babbled with Tomoyo about something she really didn't care to listen to. It seemed, when the  
quad was dark and no other living souls were around, that she could feel cards all around her,  
in the air and in the ground, surrounding her and overpowering her senses.  
  
"A real powerful one's 'round here, Sakura," commented the orange-yellow plushie   
suddenly, fluttering up to her shoulder. She turned and glanced at him, slightly surprised at  
how serious his face was. "When a real powerful card shows up, the other ones start thinkin'  
about showin' themselves. But, with a descendent right here, they ain't gonna dare make a move."  
He shrugged slightly. "Still, I dunno what card is powerful 'nough to do all this."  
  
"Time." It was a single word, it was brief, and Sakura honestly was impressed that it   
came out of her mouth at all. Kero's eyes goggled, and Li stopped in his tracks to glance at   
his rival. She could feel her cheeks start to redden. "I - I'm sorry," she stammered, pushing  
past the green-robed young man and continuing toward the bell tower, and the trees that circled  
the base of it. "I didn't realize what I was saying..." She trailed off into silence.  
  
As soon as he thought she was out of earshot, Shao-Lang let out a long breath that he  
had not been aware he had been holding in the first place. "To have such power, and not know..."  
he commented softly, soft enough that he thought she would overlook it. Her ears burned,   
however, as she heard his comment, and she stared up at the tower, silent, as she waited for  
the rest of the group to catch up. The camera still rolled as she said the words of summoning  
and released the Staff of Sealing, twirling it idly in her fingers as -   
  
"SAKURA!" scolded a voice, and green eyes widened in time to see Tomoyo lower her   
digital camcorder and frown. "Do your speech!"  
  
Groaning, the brunette sighed, her shoulders slumping. "No, Tomoyo," she whined,   
realizing only too late that she did sound extraordinarily childish. "I just want to get this  
over with, okay? No speeches or magical girl poses or - "  
  
Her roommate's purple eyes lowered, and she wrinkled her nose. Why was everything with  
Tomoyo Daidouji always so irritating and...cutesy? Sometime, when they were alone, Sakura would  
ask what was up with the camera, and the mahou shoujo anime obsession, and the costume making.  
Even if the answer would be terrifying.  
  
Tomoyo's eyes remained lowered, though, and Sakura sighed and gave in. Holding the   
Staff of Sealing in front of her chest, arms outstretched, she drew on her ever-rusty memories  
of high school baton squad and began to twirl it, dipping it above and under her other hand   
as she spoke the words that she had helped to compose, a week before:  
  
"I am the keeper of the Clow, the master of the cards! I am - "  
  
She threw the staff high into the air and turned a quick circle on one foot. Tomoyo had  
said it was some sort of ballet move, but she didn't remember it.  
  
" - Cardcaptor Sakura!"  
  
Her left hand snaked behind her back, ready to catch the staff and finish her "speech,"  
as the dark-haired girl insisted on calling it. But that moment never came, for the Staff of  
Sealing handed atop her head with a resounding thump before falling to the grass at her   
feet.  
  
As Li began to laugh himself sick, Sakura raised a hand to her head and rubbed it,   
glowering at her roommie. "Dammit, Tomoyo, I TOLD you that it was too precise a move," she   
muttered, bending down to pick up her staff. Li was STILL laughing, harder than before, and   
she sighed. "ANYWAY," she cut into his guffaws, catching his attention after a brief moment  
of continued giggle fits, "I think the best route would be to fly up into the tower."  
  
"And how do you suppose we do that?" questioned the dark-haired young man as he watched  
his rival toss down the Fly card and summon it, wings sprouting on the end of her staff. She   
scooted all the way to the front of the long pink stick, eyebrows knotting together as she  
waited on him. He took a hesitant step back. "Hell no," he told her, shaking his head. "There is  
no way I'm riding that...that THING...up to the top of the bell tower!" Li tossed his robes  
behind him and began to stalk in the direction of the door to the tower. "I'll walk, thanks."  
  
Smirking, the girl fluttered up to his side, her green eyes lit in delight. "Are you   
saying that you're SCARED of flying on the Staff of Sealing?" she teased, elbowing him in the  
side. He shot her a stony glare, but he didn't stop walking, either. "Fine," she replied,   
pulling away from him and starting toward the top of the tower. "I'll beat you up to top and   
catch the card. No problem."  
  
Something happened as she finished her sentence, though, something unexpected and rather  
odd. Time seemed to slow around them, and the tower seemed to distance itself from their   
separate approaches. Sakura frowned and urged the staff on, but it was no use. She couldn't   
get any closer. It was as though time itself had stopped.  
  
The hands of the tower clock began turning, then, speeding their way toward midnight.  
At least, Sakura assumed it was toward midnight.  
  
Not that it mattered, because the world suddenly went black.  
  
===  
  
The staff thumped down on Sakura's head and, instead of being in pain, she wrinkled her  
nose. "Well, screw that attempt," she thought aloud, glancing at the frowning Li at her side.  
"Now what?"  
  
"We need some way to get up into the tower, but your little flying trick doesn't do   
the trick," commented Li with a snort, tossing his robes about. Tomoyo stared at them like a   
deer in headlights; once again, she didn't realize that time had turned itself back, and so the  
conversation around her was confusing. Sakura had avoided explaining to her what EXACTLY the  
card had been doing, but... She sighed, chewing her lip, only half-listening to the token   
male of their little group rattle on. "We need some sort of cover," he pressed, hands on his   
hips as he stared up at the clock tower. "If we can sneak around it, and get to the stairs, we   
can probably distract the card enough to catch it."  
  
For a moment, Sakura was out of ideas, but - as she stared at the nearly-bare trees   
around the base of the tower - she realized that they had one tactical option that just might  
work. "The Wood card!" she cheered, digging into her apron and pulling it out. "We can use the  
Wood card to make the trees thicken, and then duck under them."  
  
Tomoyo muttered something about already having that footage, but it was ignored as   
her roommate summoned the Wood card, allowing a thick blanket of tree branches to knit together  
above their heads, cutting off the view of the tower top. The brunette whirled around, skirts  
bouncing, to stare the darker-haired woman in the eye. "Whatever happens, stay put," she told  
her firmly, her eyes darting to glance at Kero. "You too, alright?"  
  
The Guardian of the Clow scowled, his little plushie-face contorting uncomfortably.   
"Sakura, I - "  
  
"STAY." It was not an option, it was a command, and before either of the two could  
say another word, she had turned on her heels and taken off through the thick branches of the   
trees, Li at her back. For a moment, she felt guilty; it wasn't Touya she was talking to, but  
her best friend and her "anime mascot," as Tomoyo often called him. Still, adrenaline pumped  
her on, pushing her toward the bell tower until her friends were out of sight. She was so   
distracted by her thoughts, however, that it took Shao-Lang's grasping of her shoulders to stop  
her from running INTO the closed door to the tower.  
  
"We have to be careful," he hissed, voice soft. Sakura watched as he reached behind  
him and pulled out a sword. Had his sword been scabbarded behind him this whole time? She   
leaned around and tried to see if it had or not, but he frowned at her just enough for her   
to stop and force a smile. He rolled his eyes at her before reaching forward and opening the  
door to the bell tower.  
  
It was silent within, the only sound being the thumping of her own heartbeat, which she  
was sure the entire world could hear. Her pulse pounded behind her temples as she, only a half  
step behind Li, started up the long, circular staircase that led to the bells. Their footfalls  
were soft, like the sound of a single raindrop hitting pavement.  
  
But then, the silence ended. Sakura wasn't sure what made the bells start ringing - was  
it when Li's sword scraped against the wall, when she sighed after nearly tripping over a   
loose corner of one of the steps, or something else entirely? But the bells DID begin to ring,   
and with the ringing came complete and utter panic.  
  
"It's going to try to turn back time again!" exclaimed the brunette, fumbling in her  
apron pouch to pull out the Fly card. In a flurry of feathers, the staff sprouted wings, and   
Sakura hopped off the edge of the stairs and onto it. "I'll go up and distract it, and then  
you can finish it off!" she exclaimed as the staff flew through the air like a bullet, zipping   
past the brown-haired young man and leaving him on the steps, blinking.  
  
Sakura didn't know what to expect as she shot into the air, ducking low as she commanded  
the staff to avoid the closing spiral of stairs. Beneath her, she was vaguely aware of Li's  
footfalls pounding on the stony stairs, keeping time to the ringing bells around them.   
  
The final circle of steps ended and she skidded to a stop on the stone floor, the   
wings on her staff fading away as she found herself face-to-face with the Time card. If it   
could be called face-to-face; the card was shaped like a man wearing thick brown robes, his   
face hidden by his cowl. For a moment, she was overtaken by fear, her feet craving a long   
step backward, away from the card. The hidden face peered in her direction, as though it was   
challenging her.   
  
"Shadow!" she called out, tossing a card into the air and bringing her staff down on   
it. "Hide me from the card!"  
  
Darkness encompassed the tower, and she found herself treading lightly, careful to not  
run into the walls - or, worse, fall out of one of the many arches that encircled the bells.   
Silence overtook the tower, a cold silence, a silence not even broken by her own footfalls.  
  
"Spirit of Lighting," called a voice, strong, male, from somewhere within the darkness,  
"come FORTH!"  
  
Light came just then, breaking through the darkness, yellow and brighter than anything   
Sakura had seen in the long time. The shadow slowly dispersed, fading to moonlight and sight,   
and when the darkness had finally cleared, Shao-Lang was standing at the other end of the bell   
tower, in front of the dark-robed card. It was kneeling, chest rising and falling in a slow  
cadence, and Sakura lept forward, swinging the Staff of Sealing above her head.  
  
"Return to your true form! Clow CARD!"  
  
When the colors cleared, and the magic stopped flowing around them, Shao-Lang reached  
forward and watched as the card came slowly to is opened hand. Sakura frowned slightly, though   
her first intention had been to smile; she hadn't paused to think that Li would actually become   
the keeper of that particular card, even if he HAD done most the work. Sighing, she took a step   
back to lean against the wall, exhausted -   
  
And blinked as she felt nothing behind her.  
  
"HOE!" she screamed, her fingers hardly keeping hold of the staff as she plummeted toward  
the woods that she had created not ten minutes before. "Fly! GO!!!"  
  
Brown eyes glanced down at her, brown eyes on a smirking face, as Li watched her dangle  
in midair from the Staff of Sealing, her legs swinging idly as she hung on for dear life like  
a small child holds on to the monkey bars at an elementary school playground. "Nice to see that  
the Cardcaptor is the keeper of so much grace and beauty," he teased, eyes glinting in the   
moonlight.  
  
Sakura's face darkened, and she glared up at him. "At least I'M not afraid to ride on  
the Staff of Sealing!"  
  
"Who said I was afraid? Maybe I just didn't want to sit with YOU, huh?"  
  
"Pffft. Right!"  
  
"It's true!"  
  
"Yeah, sure... BABY!"  
  
"SPAZ!"  
  
"JERK!"  
  
Their fight continued on through the night, so loud that it drowned out the sound of  
Tomoyo and Kero, spread out on the ground below, laughing.  
  
===  
  
Sakura Kinomoto woke up on Tuesday morning with a smile on her face, stretching as she  
gazed up at the ceiling. Since her test for Terada's Hell-class had FINALLY been finished, she  
had allowed herself to sleep in later than normal. Keroberos was out and about somewhere -   
where, she did not know - and, as she scuffed across the room to find her hairbrush, she   
decided that it was going to be a good day. No evil cards, no moody clocks and - better YET -  
no test by Professor Yoshiyuki Terada.  
  
She was just considering skipping art class entirely in favor of laying around in her   
pajamas when the door burst in and Chiharu, hair a mess, skidded into the room. "SAKURA!" she   
announced, running to grasp her friend's arm a bit TOO tightly. "Oh my GOD! I just spilled  
coffee on my notes and I was SO not ready for the test! You HAVE to let me borrow yours!"  
  
Green eyes blinked. Once, twice, four times. Hadn't Monday OFFICALLY finished the night  
before, when they had defeated the Clow card?  
  
And then, she thought about it. Kero had mentioned on the way home from the clock tower  
that the tolling of the bells at midnight had been - at least, in his mind - what had been   
setting back the days, making Tuesday turn into Monday again...and again...and...  
  
She sighed, her head drooping slightly and her smile fading. "In my backpack," she   
told the frantic Chiharu, defeated. "It's the blue notebook."  
  
Her friend gaped at her. "Are you sure you don't want them?" she questioned, carefully  
looking the brunette up and down. Tomoyo opened the door but didn't come in, staring at the   
goings on.   
  
"Nah," Sakura responded, waving a hand, "I - " She paused. She hadn't realized how   
tempted she was to tell both her neighbor and her roommate what exactly was going on in their  
world. Wouldn't that be great? To run up and down the hall in one of Tomoyo's hand-designed  
outfits screaming "I AM THE KEEPER OF THE CLOW!" at the top of her lungs? But no, no, she   
couldn't do that. She was still Sakura Kinomoto, still the quintessential history major, the  
assistant Hall Marm and all that jazz. She was not - at least, in the minds of most - the   
Cardcaptor Sakura.  
  
She smiled slightly at her friend and winked a green eye. "Let's just say that I'm   
pretty damn sure that I'm ready for the test," she replied casually, turning back to the   
mirror and her hairbrush. "I've studied enough over the past four days."  
  
As Chiharu frowned at her and then shrugged, walking out of the room with the blue  
notebook in hand, the Keeper of the Clow smiled at her reflection in the mirror.   
  
Maybe it wouldn't be too terrible of a day, after all.  
  
===  
End Chapter 5. 


	7. Chapter 6: Family Matters

Time passed on, as it often did, and the rest of the week - despite how badly it had   
started out - went smoothly for Sakura Kinomoto. All around campus, the students were working  
their hardest to get ready for the Freshman Festival, the one time of the year when parents were  
openly invited to see the school and spend time with their students. The entire weekend was to   
be swamped with activities for both the college freshmen and their parents, and Sakura - assistant  
for her hall - was expected to work the "evening" shift in the dorms, making sure that the unruly  
youngsters stayed relatively sober while their parents were sleeping the nights away at the   
nearest Hilton.  
  
It was Friday afternoon when the telephone rang in their dorm room, interrupting the   
relatively quiet bliss of the dorms after lunch. On the quad, Naoko was helping their freshman   
hall council set up a booth to earn money for building improvements, and Tomoyo had tagged along  
with her video camera. She had tried to grab her roommate as well, but Sakura had been adamant   
about staying in, citing that she had far too much Spanish history homework to go out and watch   
a bunch of freshmen put together their bake sale. The dark-haired girl laughed where she should  
have been offended and shrugged it off, grabbing Keroberos by the fluff-ended tail and making him  
come along in the brunette's place. Sakura had sighed a sigh of vast relief as soon as her friend  
was out of earshot, grateful for the peace and quiet.  
  
Groaning, she rolled out of bed and trudged over to where she'd left the phone that   
morning, nestled in a pile of dirty clothes. "Yo," she muttered, plopping down on the edge of her  
desk as she continued with her reading. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"Sakura?" came a familiar voice, and she nearly dropped her text book onto the floor as   
she recognized it. "Is that you?"  
  
"Daddy!" she squealed, a grin stealing across her face as she tossed down her reading   
and nearly fell into her desk chair, the look on her face that of a little girl who had not seen  
her father in years upon years. "How ARE you? What's happening? Are you doing well? How's the   
university's dig up there in the Yukon?"  
  
Fujitaka Kinomoto laughed at her childish antics and excited voice, and she could only   
imagine how his laugh lines crinkled as he smiled. "Things are fine up in the Yukon," he replied,  
"but I'm actually back at the university for a few weeks, thanks to some paperwork that magically  
appeared on my desk." He sighed, but the lightness was still in his voice. "I felt bad that I   
never got to see you and your brother off when you two went back to school, so I thought you both  
could come home for the weekend and spend time with your dear old dad. What do you say?"  
  
Her first reaction was to say yes immediately, but her mouth failed and creased into a   
frown. "Oooh, I can't," she lamented, kicking the nearby garbage can in annoyance. "It's the   
Freshie Fest and I'm covering the dorm shifts while Naoko does all the day stuff. I can't just  
up and leave."  
  
"The 'Freshie Fest,' eh?" repeated her father. For a moment, there was silence on the   
other end of the phone, as though he was considering something but not saying it aloud. "Well,  
you know, I never DID make it to your Freshman Festival. What if I come up for the weekend to see  
you? I could stay with Touya and Yukito in the apartment, and we could do all that good family   
stuff that we haven't been able to do for a while."  
  
Repressing her urge to scream in absolute delight, Sakura simply smiled, nodding excitedly  
at the phone, as though she could see the man on the other end. "I'll meet you down in the   
building lounge at noon, okay?" she questioned. "You can meet Tomoyo and EVERYTHING! I can't wait!"  
  
She could just imagine his father, sitting in front of his big desk in his New York   
University office, his brown eyes slanted shut behind his glasses as he smiled and nodded back.  
"I'll see you then, Cherry Blossom."  
  
========================  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
Chapter 6: "Family Matters"  
========================  
  
"You really SHOULD have come," Tomoyo admonished her roommate sternly, wagging a   
breadstick across the room as though it were an extension of her hand. Sakura was still buried in   
her Spanish history homework, and the dark-haired camerawoman was beginning to think that she'd  
been telling the truth about her history reading. "It was so funny watching the freshmen girls   
ignore a screaming Naoko. She really IS scary when mad." There was nothing more than an "mm-hmm"  
from the brunette, and Tomoyo frowned at her. "Are you alright?" she asked after a moment of   
total silence. "I order veggie pizza and you won't eat it, and now you're not talking to me. Are  
you mad that I wore your sweater the other day or something?"  
  
With a small laugh, Sakura shook her head and closed her text book for the first time in  
the two hours Tomoyo had been home. "I'm just being a dork," she responded casually, sliding off  
her bed and onto the floor to take a piece of pizza. "My dad called this afternoon, and he's back  
from the Yukon for a while, so he's planning to come here tomorrow."  
  
After a rather long belch, Kero leaned back on his stuffed elbows and eyed her up and   
down. "Your pa, eh?" he smirked, button-like eyes glimmering mischievously. "If he's da man   
dat hates Terada so much, I wanna meet 'im!"  
  
"Cute, Kero." The brunette stuck out her tongue, but she was smiling. "I haven't seen   
him in so long, that's all," she explained to Tomoyo, whose mouth was gaping open wide enough to  
stick an entire half pizza in. "He left for the Yukon three weeks before school started, leaving  
Touya and I to get here on our own, and I haven't been able to get home since. I miss him, and..."  
She trailed off as she realized that her roommate was not blinking. "Uhm, Tomoyo? Are YOU okay?"  
  
Shaking her head quickly, as if to clear out cobwebs, the video producer smiled and   
laughed at herself, her pale face turning slightly crimson. "No, it's just that..." She paused,  
pursing her lips. "Well, my mom's coming this weekend, too, and so I really wanted to hang out   
with her. But, if your dad is coming..."  
  
"The uber-business chica is comin' HERE?" gaped the plushie, blinking. "Ain't your ma,  
like, a million-dollar CEO or somethin'?"  
  
The blush intensified, and she looked away from both her friend and the Clow Guardian.  
"Well... Yeah," she replied, pursing her lips slightly. "And she's really nice, don't get me  
wrong, but sometimes... Sometimes, she can be really weird about things." She shrugged and   
sighed heavily, turning back to the other two. "It's been a hard life for her and me. She's been  
away a lot in my life, and she's always busy. But my dad left when I was a little girl, so I never  
really knew anyone else."  
  
Sakura nodded slightly, a frown playing across her lips. "My mother died when I was really  
little," she explained, not really caring that she was repeating a story that her roommate had  
heard three or four times. "She had a weak heart or something similar, and she was pretty young  
when she had Touya and I. Since her death, the three of us have tried to be a good family,  
but it's hard. Touya became a second father to me when he was hardly out of elementary school,  
and..." She forced herself to smile broadly. "But that's okay! I mean, your mom is a great person,  
right? She'll have no problem getting along with my dad! And my dad is a GREAT guy, too! We can  
just have them hang out, and go around as a foursome! It'll be fun!"  
  
"Yeah!" agreed her roommate enthusiastically. "I mean, my mom doesn't even hate my DAD   
for running off on us! In fact, the only person in the world she hates is her cousin's husband!"  
  
Silence fell over the room, and both Sakura and her guardian blinked up at the still-  
smiling Tomoyo, who had begun to blush. "Well, that was phrased REALLY badly," she covered,   
moving to scratch the back of her neck guiltily. "It's not that she HATES him. It's just that  
she and her cousin were really close friends, and this guy kind of stole her away from him. They  
got married really young, and so she never got to go to college like she wanted to, or have much  
of a life beyond being a married woman. And then, after a couple years of marriage and a couple  
kids - two or three, I think - she got really sick and died. I don't think Mom's over that, is   
all."  
  
The orange creature laughed, bits of breadstick flying out of his mouth. "You know what  
would be REAL funny?" he chortled, nearly choking on his dinner. "If 'Kura's dad was da hubbie  
of Tomoyo's dead kinda-cousin!"  
  
"Please," snorted the brunette with a roll of her eyes. "I think I would know if Tomoyo  
was my COUSIN!"  
  
"Exactly," nodded her roommate, chuckling a bit. "Though I admit, that would be kind of  
cool..."  
  
Their conversation continued, drawing on the funny adventures they would have had together  
had they really been cousins growing up, and exactly how they would make their make-believe,   
related parents make amends and get along.  
  
===  
  
Fujitaka Kinomoto was rather attractive for a man in his middle age, or at least that was  
what his graduate students were always telling him. With dark brown hair that was only graying at  
the temples and bright brown eyes, the only real sign of his age were the laugh lines around his  
eyes and mouth, and the thin-rimmed glasses he wore low on his nose. Even as he sat in the lounge  
of his daughter's dorm building, college students of the female persuasion walked by and waved,  
sending him lusty glances and coy winks. He waved back with his left hand - the hand that he still  
wore his wedding band on, even fifteen years after his wife's death - and smiled in the most   
fatherly manner he could muster. It wasn't every day that you were hit on by females who really  
WERE young enough to be your daughter, after all.  
  
It was after the third set of giggling students had passed that a young woman plopped   
down on the opposite end of the sofa he had taken up, crossing her legs at the knee as she snapped  
at someone on the other end of a cell phone. She wore her hair short, chic, and dark, and she   
peered out at the world through a pair of sunglasses. Her business suit hugged her hips and   
legs, the dark red of the blazer almost exactly matching the color of her lipstick, while the   
black pants matched her leather handbag. He shrugged as he realized her oblivion to his existence  
and went back to watching the college students pass by, still winking and giggling.  
  
"I don't CARE what you have to say about it, Richard!" the woman shot into the phone, and  
the voice caused the sofa-sharing man to blink. Where had he heard that same voice in that SAME  
tone before? "I am STILL the CEO of this company! Yes, that's RIGHT! And it's 'Ms. Daidouji' to   
you!" There was a beep as she hung up the phone, and Fujitaka tried to force a smile onto his  
face as he turned the other direction, looking as far away from her as humanly possible. "I'm  
REALLY sorry," she apologized in a sugar-sweet tone, a tone so false he could just picture the   
forced smile on her face. The reflection in a nearby window showed her pulling off her glasses  
to reveal a pair of eyes, eyes that he knew already were purple-blue. "Sometimes, those idiots  
that I work with are just... Childish." She sighed. "One of these days, I will fire that man I  
work with."  
  
"Oh, I understand completely," he responded, staring at the door to the lounge and willing  
it, with all his might, to open and reveal his daughter and her roommate. "I deal with people  
like that all the time."  
  
She sighed a second time, but there was something almost...playful...about her sigh, and   
Fujitaka could taste the irony rising in the back of his throat, but it was mixed with bile and  
the McDonald's he had scarfed down in lieu of breakfast. "Come now, I'm holding out my hand to  
you in hopes of a simple introduction!" she addressed him. Suddenly, a hand snaked around his   
shoulders and gripped his chin, and he allowed his face to slowly be redirected in her direction.  
"My name is Sonomi Daidouji and - HOLY SHIT!"  
  
As Sonomi tripped over herself to get up and out of the sofa cushions, he himself rose,  
brushing off his khakis, and offered a hand in her direction. "Nice to see you again, Sonomi," he   
addressed her, watching as the surprise in her expression turned to anger. Another trio of   
students passed by, wearing their sorority t-shirts, and he could only imagine what they thought  
of a strange-but-good-looking man offering his hand toward a totally random woman. "What brings  
you here, today?"  
  
"Don't play games with me, Kinomoto!" she shot, her dark eyes lowering dangerously in his  
direction. She stepped up to him until she stood right with him, less than an arm's length  
apart, and jabbed a red-painted fingernail into his chest. "Don't think that I've suddenly   
forgiven you all your trespasses with Nadeshiko, because I haven't! You're still a bastard,   
Kinomoto, and I'm not going to let you forget it!"  
  
"I would not expect any less from you, Sonomi," he smiled sweetly, withdrawing his hand  
and placing it into his pocket. He made no motion to dislodge the index finger from his polo   
shirt, though it was sharp and slightly painful. "And I hope you know that I still love your   
cousin as much as I did the very day she died, and every day before then, and nothing in the   
world will change that. NOTHING." His voice grew colder than he wanted it to, but no amount of   
forced happiness would make the lightness return. "If you loved her, too, you would let her   
go. You would understand what was going on, and - "  
  
The door to the lounge creaked open just then, and two girls walked in, chatting   
pleasantly, their arms looped together. The taller of the two was a brunette with a short bob  
of hair, her bangs in her green eyes and her hair pulled into two little pigtails. The other   
was shorter but more curvaceous, with long, dark waves of hair and bright purple-blue eyes,   
her tresses bound together at the back of her neck by a ribbon and still cascading down to her   
waist. They both stopped after three paces into the room, freezing in mid-sentence and mid-step,  
gaping at the scene before them.   
  
Sonomi stepped away from the man quickly and ran a hand through her hair before forcing  
a sweet, innocent smile on her face. "Tomoyo!" she gushed, readjusting the strap of her purse  
on her shoulder as she stepped forward to hug her daughter around the neck. "It's so good to   
see you again! And this must - " She glanced at the other girl, blinked a few times, and then   
gritted her teeth. "Oh my God..."  
  
"Sakura!" grinned Fujitaka, his voice light as his daughter rushed to give him an   
enormous bear hug around the waist. "I'm so glad that I was able to come see you today! How's  
everything?"  
  
The brunette pulled away from her father after a brief moment, but she was not smiling as  
he was. Far from it. Instead, she turned toward her roommate and then to the woman WITH her   
roommate, and she frowned, brow furrowing. "Uhm, Tomoyo, is that your mom?" she questioned   
carefully, her neck tightening rather involuntarily.   
  
Solemnly, the other sophomore nodded. "And is that your dad?" she ventured, pursing her  
lips as her mother's grip around her shoulders intensified. The nod she received in return   
was not reassuring in the least, and it caused her to frown noticeably. "Oi, how Kero would   
laugh if he could see us now..."  
  
Sakura didn't say anything in agreement...mostly because she didn't have to.  
  
===  
  
The Freshman Festival - or, as the non-freshmen called it, the "Freshie Fest" - was a   
bustling hubbub of activity that took over the entire quad and poured over onto the patio in front  
of the library. Dunk tanks with soaked professors, bake sales featuring cookies and cakes, and   
even the occasional portrait-artist or origami-folder dotted the sidewalks, and the crowds flocked  
to booth after booth. Sakura and Touya wandered amongst the throng with their father, though he  
seemed more interested in talking to Yukito than he cared about his two children. Sakura didn't  
blame him; if she had created a scene like he and Tomoyo's mother had that morning, she wouldn't   
have wanted to talk to her children, either.  
  
Her brother was absolutely no help as she tried to pry into the innermost workings the  
their family tree, reaffirming the nagging suspicion that she had missed out on a vital piece  
of information. "Mom died when you were four, monster," he snorted at her in annoyance, rolling  
his dark eyes as the fifteenth or sixteenth question slipped from her mouth and was almost, but  
not quite, lost in the crowd. "She was a great lady, and I really miss her. That's ALL you need  
to know."  
  
"Touya!" she exclaimed, moving to stamp him on the foot. He yelped, drawing the attention  
of his roommate, but not their father. Yukito smiled charmingly before turning back to the   
university professor and continuing their discussion on...whatever it was they were discussing.  
Sakura honestly did not know what it was. "Why can't you tell me about Mom and Tomoyo's mom?  
It's just KIND OF important that I know why my best friend's mother hates my dad, you know?"  
  
He sighed and shook his head, as though he was trying to respond to a small child who   
asked nothing more than "why." "Sometimes, Sakura, it's really better NOT to know," he chided,  
snatching a free sample of teriyaki chicken from the Japanese Club's booth. "Mom is gone, and  
that's that. Sonomi doesn't like him, and that's that. Do you really need to know why everything  
is the way it is, and why - "  
  
"I think it's time we did a small changing of the guard!" announced Fujitaka suddenly,  
falling back in pace so he could stand beside his daughter, his face alight as he looped an   
arm around the young woman's shoulder. "Your roommate is complaining of starvation, Touya," he   
winked at his elder child. "I think you should feed him."  
  
"Will do." Sakura scowled at her brother's back as he wandered off, green eyes lowered  
to slits. Who was he, acting like that, anyway? And why in the world did he think that he was   
so great that he could know all the family secrets while she couldn't? And why was it that, with  
his khaki pants and plaid shirt, he looked just like their father from the back?  
  
As soon as her brother was out of earshot, her father sighed and shook his head. "I'm   
really sorry, Blossom," he told her, glancing around the quad. The cherry blossom trees - her   
namesake, or so the story went - were just now losing their leaves, their branches half-naked  
as they stretched into the blue sky above. Just three days earlier they had blossomed, thanks to  
the Flowery card, and she and Li had been forced to run around the quad, chasing after a giant  
flower. Her father smiled sadly at the leafless branches and shrugged slightly. "Your roommate's  
mother is... Well, she has many of the qualities I admired in YOUR mother - passion, determination,  
loyalty - but they come out in different ways. And one of those ways was this morning's little   
demonstration." His eyes turned sad, and then he turned to her and forced a smile. "But enough of  
this dull talk of times past! I got rid of your brother and of Yukito, so now we can have a good   
father-daughter moment! What do you want to do?"  
  
She glanced away from him and toward the bell tower, frowning. It was only 2 pm, but it   
felt later, and she did have to be back to the dorm by dinner time. Somehow, the delight of   
spending quality time with her father had been touched by a dark shadow. What had happened to her  
girlish enthusiasm about seeing him?   
  
Sighing, Sakura forced a smile and moved to brush a strand of hair from her face. "I have  
to go back to the building," she lied, her tone not reaffirming the happiness of her smile. "We   
can do breakfast tomorrow, just the two of us, alright?"  
  
For a moment, Fujitaka frowned, but then he smiled and nodded. "I'm holding you to this,  
Cherry Blossom," he retorted, ruffling one of her pigtails with a hand. His fingers and hands   
were smaller than she could remember, but then, she had always looked at him with the respect of a   
child looking up to their parent...and not as an adult, looking at another adult.  
  
"Of course," she agreed quickly, smiling still as she disappeared into the crowd, not   
willing to let her grin disappear until after she was far out of her father's eye line, and then  
not until she was in her room...just in case.  
  
===  
  
The autumn wind felt good against her sweaty forehead and her warm cheeks as she  
pounded down the pavement, her tennis shoes thumping against the concrete. The side streets around  
the college were abandoned save for a few men raking leaves in their front yards. She was a welcome  
guest to the pavement and the streets, a visitor they had grown used to since the school year   
began, a friend.  
  
Naoko had been sitting at the front desk when Sakura had slammed the door to the dorm   
building and started up the stairs, muttering something about taking a run. Her hall advisor,  
for all intents and purposes, was quite used to her coping methods, but the outburst caused even  
she - the polite little lit major - to arch an eyebrow. Not that it mattered. Within ten minutes,  
the brunette had tossed on her wind pants and a tank top and was out the front door, her headphones  
dangling around her neck as she plodded toward the back streets of the college, the streets and  
avenues that the older students lived along.  
  
Tomoyo had not been in the room when she went in to change, something she had been a bit  
too grateful for. A note on the white board confirmed that her mother was taking her out on the  
town, and that she would be home relatively late. At the bottom of the note, under the swirly  
script spelling out her name, was a single word - "Sorry." As if that one word said everything  
that needed to be said.  
  
It didn't.  
  
Nothing could say it. Nothing. She turned a corner quickly, the beat of her favorite   
songs echoing in her ears as she hopped over an uneven part in the pavement and kept on going.   
Nothing could explain why her father and brother kept family-wide secrets from her, why her   
best friend's mother hated her father so much, and why she had never been told that her roommate  
was actually a second cousin. Surely, her father had recognized the name Daidouji when she had   
showed him her roommate assignment sheet, freshman year. And surely, he had recognized it again  
the next spring when he signed off on her room request forms. Surely...  
  
Surely, she was missing a piece of the puzzle.  
  
"You run this way often?" questioned a voice rather loudly, and she tugged down her   
headphones to see, of all people, Shao-Lang Li running beside her. Her eyes lowered and she picked  
up her pace, but she didn't put the phones back on. He followed her, his longer legs and more   
athletic form keeping up easily. "Or is it just today?"  
  
"Li, I really can't deal with you right now," she spat, cutting across the street and  
into a small park that was nestled between a few houses. It was her normal route - down the   
streets, across to the park, around the park, and then through the trees at the back of the   
playground, which would eventually lead to the creek that ran around campus, and then down  
the creek until it went back to the dorms. "Go away."  
  
He frowned but didn't stop running, and they fell into a steady pace, complete silence  
around them, silence broken only by the rustle of dead leaves in the trees and their own   
panting.  
  
She would have expected him to break away when she ducked into the trees and down the  
path that she had created the year before, but he followed, hopping over the logs and sticks   
along the well-beaten trail as easily as she. "I found this path the other day," he admitted   
as they reached the creek, still evenly matched, step for step. "I didn't realize that you had  
beaten it out."  
  
"Hn." The comment was a grunt as she hopped over the slowly running water to land on the  
other side of the creek, away from him. Here, the ground was not as even - it was, after all,  
unexplored territory - but she still continued with her quick jog. "What do you want from me?"  
  
Li shrugged his shoulders, and the wind ruffled both his hair and his t-shirt. "It's nice  
to run with someone else," he admitted nonchalantly, the leaves crunching beneath his feet. "I   
don't get to do it often." He paused, pursing his lips, and glanced at her. She stared straight  
ahead, and pretended not to feel his eyes upon her. "Besides, don't you feel it?"  
  
Her gaze darted in his direction, lowering, but she never faltered in her steps. Not   
once. "Feel what?"  
  
"A card. A powerful card. Something that looms over this whole ravine, something stronger  
than you or I."  
  
Silence resumed, and this time, it was a real silence. They came into what Sakura called  
"the clearing" - a large, rounded area with no trees in it save for one enormous oak that split  
the little stream in two - and she wrinkled her nose. With her headphones always on, she had   
never noticed how truly quiet it was in the clearing. Not even her footfalls made sound, though,  
with the number of leaves she was trudging through, they should have. The power of the Clow  
embraced her, turning her over and upside down, and she felt almost nauseas; it always was a  
stronger sense when she knew what she was looking for.  
  
Her jog slowed to a mere stroll and then to a stop as she came to rest near the side of  
the enormous oak tree. "It's coming...from here?" she asked, her voice soft as she stared up into  
the leafless branches with wide eyes. Then, she frowned and shook her head. "That's silly!" she  
commented, rolling her eyes. Her walkman snapped off, the tape exhausted, and it caused her to   
jump slightly. "It's just that... The tree is very regal, and..." She frowned, taking a shaky  
step forward, toward the tree. "You don't think - "  
  
Reaching out, Li grabbed her by her arm and pulled her away from the tree, her steps   
silent even as she stumbled through the creek. "Don't!" he commanded, the urgency in his voice  
causing her to blink up at him. "You don't have the Key of Clow with you, and it would be  
really dumb to encourage a card THIS powerful to show itself when you don't have the power to   
seal it."  
  
As much as she didn't want to admit he was right - it was, after all, just another strike  
to add to the list - she sighed and slumped her shoulders. "FINE," she shot at him, the annoyance  
of the day's troubles resurfacing as she realized that she was still angry with her father, in the  
woods, and standing beside her worst enemy with his hand still on her upper arm. She tugged her   
arm away and glared at him. "I'll meet you here. Tonight at, I don't know, midnight. And we'll  
seal this thing."  
  
Shao-Lang ran a hand through his hair, frowning at the sudden gruffness in her usually   
upbeat voice. "That's fine," he replied, wetting his lips. He turned away from her, back to the   
rest of the path, facing they way they had come. "I'll see you tonight."  
  
Sakura's mouth opened to apologize, but no words came out. She watched him retreat,   
back to the refreshing fall wind, and she sighed, shaking her head.  
  
So much for a relaxing jog.  
  
===  
  
Tomoyo still wasn't home when Sakura returned from her run, and neither was anyone else on  
the floor. In the space where she'd rubbed out Tomoyo's note was a note from Chiharu, saying that  
they were all going down for an early dinner and where was she, and could she come, too? She erased  
that note with the butt of her hand and darted in the room only long enough to grab a towel before  
getting into the shower.  
  
The rest of the evening went slowly, as though she was wading through a vat of molasses  
and couldn't escape. Her roommate came and then left with Rika and Chiharu to go watch the hypnotist  
that was visiting campus, and her excuse was validated by Naoko coming in only seconds before the   
trio left to remind her assistant that she would just be down at the quad if she really needed   
help. The brunette nodded, content to lay down in her bed with a good book and just forget about  
all the trouble that she'd been having.  
  
Forgetfulness was hard in coming, and she found herself to be very restless. The book   
wasn't as funny as she remembered, and - with her homework for the weekend totally done (excepting  
only an essay that she had to write for Terada's class, due Wednesday) - she had absolutely nothing  
to do. Checking e-mail resulted in an empty mailbox; checking voice mail resulted in her brother's  
voice, questioning what she "did" to their father that afternoon and if there was a reason she   
was being nothing more than a moody little child. She deleted the message before it had fully   
replayed itself and slammed the phone back down on the base, muttering.  
  
As much as Naoko had warned her friend about the dangers of Freshman Festival weekend, the  
hall was completely dead. If her life had been a bad western, tumbleweed would have rolled down the  
tile-floored corridor and into the empty floor lounge. Behind some doors she could hear a little   
sound - music, perhaps, or a few friends watching television - but no where was there the clatter  
of bottles and cans or the noise of a party, the things she was expected to hear and trained to   
quell. She slunk back into her room after a single trek down the hall and back and shut the door  
behind her, the heavy noise of wood settling into cinderblock both empty and reassuring.  
  
The room's unerring, unwavering silence was too much for the bored, restless young woman,  
and it wasn't very long before her mind, sick of trying to count the number of paint chips on the  
ceiling, began to wander all across creation. She imagined her mother, long, dark curls flying,  
running with Tomoyo's mother as children, their footfalls pounding through the grass as they played.  
But they were torn apart by a man, later. No, not a man. Her FATHER. The bringer of her mother's  
death. But how could he have brought her mother's death? He loved her more than anything in the   
world, and he still did. And sure, they had married young, but not as young as Tomoyo's story   
had suggested....  
  
Sakura growled at her own thoughts as they tripped over themselves in her mind and hopped  
out of bed, bound and determined to get her mind off of...everything. Green eyes glanced toward  
the digital clock on the microwave once - it was only 8:12 - and she decided it was time to take  
matters into her own hands and capture the card that she and Li had stumbled upon that afternoon.  
She didn't need his help, not in the least. After all, the Flower and Float cards had both   
appeared in the middle of the week, and she had caught both of them with little or no help from her  
arch-rival. Who needed him for this one?  
  
She slipped out of her lounge pants and tossed open the door to her closet, flipping   
through the hangers to find for herself a clean pair of jeans or khakis to wear. She found nothing,  
and a glance at her hamper brought a feeling of dread into the very pit of her soul. In all the   
rush to do homework and get ready for the Festival, she had completely forgotten to do laundry,  
and now her blue-and-green checkered lounge pants - the pants she wore to bed - were the only   
"clean" clothes she had in her possession.  
  
The brunette attempted to find something suitable in her roommate's closet, but it was   
a fruitless effort. Whereas they could usually share tops, Tomoyo had wider hips and a slightly   
bigger waist. Together, those two simple measurements worked against the duo, and Sakura was unable  
to steal her roommate's pants. Never a problem, of course...until now. Now, it was a curse in and  
of itself, and she found herself more than tempted to slip on a pair of too-big jeans and just hope  
they stayed on.  
  
Then, she saw the garment bag hanging in the back of the closet, and curiosity sparked   
in the back of her mind. Once a week - and sometimes more often - Tomoyo would show up with a   
garment bag, and it would end up holding one of her "battle costumes," specially fitted for and  
only for her brown-haired, card-catching roommate.  
  
As much as she usually dreaded the costumes she was left, Sakura had to smile at the   
weight of the bag as she pulled it down from its peg. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad, after all.  
  
===  
  
"Never again," she muttered, the flashlight she had grabbed off her dresser top casting  
very little light against the forest floor as she trudged through freshly-fallen leaves. The   
wind tossed the cape that was attached to her shirt behind her and ruffled her Elizabethan   
collar. "NEVER again."  
  
The costume, she had been disgusted to know, was labeled "Sakura de Bergerac," based off of  
the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" they had read in English 101 the year before. She didn't understand  
what puffy shorts, white nylons, and a tank top with a cape attached really had to do with the   
book anyway, and she had almost been tempted to leave it at home all together and wear her lounge  
pants. But her lounge pants WERE the only clean clothes she had, and damned if she was going to   
wear her "de Bergerac" outfit around the dorms.   
  
At least the color of the cape went well with her tennis shoes.  
  
If the woods had been quiet that afternoon, they were even quieter now, her footfalls   
even softer when she was walking alone. Her flashlight was unnecessarily dim, and the light it   
cast tempted far too many shadows for her taste. She felt her hands start to shake as her steps   
began to make ABSOLUTELY no sound, and she felt her mouth go dry when the wind stopped whistling   
but the leaves still danced. Li had been right, and the feeling that pulsated through her blood  
was even stronger, this time. There was a card around, and it WAS powerful. Perhaps even more   
powerful than she was.  
  
"Oh, key that hides the power of the dark," she whispered, afraid to raise her voice into the  
crescendo that usually accompanied the words of summon. The ground did not crackle with energy as   
it usually did, though, and she could not feel the magic of the Clow embracing her, encouraging her  
forth. It was as though the power was reluctant, with the great oak tree hardly ten feet away.  
As though it was afraid of what might happened, were the Staff of Sealing fully summoned.  
  
She pressed on, trying to find comfort in the fact that there was SOME amount of power   
running around, and that the key WAS changing. "By the contract, reveal thy true form to me. This,   
Sakura co - !"  
  
Something happened just then, and she wasn't sure what. The Key of Clow stopped spinning   
in the air and dropped to the ground, and blackness - strong, pure, dark - enveloped her body. She  
tried to scream out, but she couldn't. Her voice caught, failed, and choked on itself, leaving  
her coughing, gasping for breath. It was almost like she was drowning in the darkness, unable   
to find the surface or the light, unable to escape the power around her.  
  
Then, like a tunnel's end, a glimmer of light appeared in the midst of the darkness, a   
light that grew slightly brighter with every passing second. She reached for the light, running  
toward it even though she, somehow, knew that running did her no good. Her fingers reached out,  
grasping at it, feeling for the warmth...  
  
A park. She blinked at it, her brow furrowing, realizing that she was not looking around  
the park as though she was on the grass in it, but rather, that she was looking DOWN on it.  
Above her were branches, branches of a giant oak much like the one she had just been standing   
under, branches full of budding leaves, the first leaves of spring. Children's voices echoed   
across the grass as boys played pick-up baseball and others went down slides and crossed monkey  
bars. Across the street was a school, nestled in a grove of trees. Sakura frowned, swinging her   
legs idly from the branch she was perched on. Why did that school look so -   
  
"Will you come down, already?" whined a voice, and the misplaced college student glanced  
down to see a teenaged girl, dressed in a navy skirt with a white blouse, staring up at her. She   
swallowed, hard, and started to move, but the navy-purple eyes darted around her, toward somewhere   
else entirely. "You know what your father has been saying!"  
  
Someone sighed and a branch above her shook. Sakura leaned back and glanced up to see,  
at least ten feet above her, another girl. She was perhaps fourteen, maybe a year older, with   
long, dark curls and bright green eyes. She wore the same outfit as the other girl - Sakura   
realized after a moment that it was a private school uniform - and was climbing steadily through  
the branches, like a monkey in its element. "Yeah, I know what father says, Sonomi," she responded,  
making a face down at the other girl. She swung under one branch and then over another, her   
balance precarious as she made her way higher. "He says that I'm not in good shape, and that I have  
heart problems, and all that other stuff. But I don't want to play his games." She laughed,   
shaking her head, and plopped down on a thick branch, leaning against the trunk. "Did you see the  
new history teacher? He's SO cute!"  
  
Sonomi rolled her dark eyes up at the girl in the tree and sighed. "No, I didn't," she  
admitted after a moment's silence. "What's so cute about him, anyway?"  
  
"EVERYTHING!" The dark-haired girl laughed again, her voice high and sweet. "He's smart  
and funny, and even after only an hour of class, I was in love!" Clambering to her feet, she   
pulled herself up onto yet another higher branch, giggling like only a teenager with a crush   
could. "We're going to get married," she decided, moving to stand on this new branch. "We'll have  
two kids - or more, it's okay if we do - and we'll name them cute things. Touya... And Sakura!"  
  
As Sakura tried NOT to fall out of the tree, Sonomi tsk-tsked with her tongue and shook  
her head again. "'Peach blossom' and 'cherry blossom,'" she snorted, indignant. "Your parents   
should have NEVER let you take Japanese in junior high, Nadeshiko. You're starting to think you  
speak the language!"  
  
Nadeshiko - her MOTHER, Sakura realized, her stomach turning over itself - shrugged her  
shoulders and kept on climbing. "We'll travel all around the world," she pressed on, constructing  
for herself the life she wanted. "I'll be an artist or a pianist or SOMETHING and he'll still be a  
teacher, but that's alright! We'll go to Europe and Africa and Asia and we'll see everything in the  
world there is to see! I'll get out of Albany and get a better life than this one, and it will  
be WONDERFUL!" She sighed, leaning heavily on a smaller, thinner branch, putting all her weight on  
it until she was dangling, her feet about three stories from the grass below. "And then, I'll   
come visit you in your little, NORMAL house and - "   
  
There was a crackling right then, like the sound that sappy wood makes when thrown into  
a fire, and Nadeshiko's legs flailed beneath her. "SONOMI!" she shrieked, her elbows slipping.  
She grabbed onto the half-broken limb of the tree, holding on for dear life, but it was no use.  
The cracking continued, deafening, and then the branch broke away.  
  
Sakura saw Sonomi squeeze shut her eyes and scream, and she closed her eyes, too. The fact  
that she was watching her mother - her mother as a GIRL, no less - fall from a giant oak tree didn't  
cross her mind as she waited for the thump that never sounded, and the doom that never came.  
  
"Are you alright?" A man's voice. Deep, masculine, and almost disturbingly familiar, it   
caused Sakura to snake open one eye and then another. At the same time, Nadeshiko did the same,   
only to find herself staring up into brown eyes. The young man, no older than twenty-two or   
twenty-three - smiled and set her down on the ground. It was now evident how young she really was;  
her form was gangly and not yet filled out, and she looked tiny between the tall man and the more  
mature-looking Sonomi. After she nodded, the man - no doubt a young Fujitaka Kinomoto - smiled   
and moved to ruffle her hair. "That's good to hear. But you be more careful next time, Miss   
Amamiya. Had your friend here not screamed, I might not have gotten over here in time."  
  
Smiling graciously, Nadeshiko reached over and pushed her friend forward. "This is my   
cousin, Sonomi Amamiya," she introduced, once AGAIN causing the young woman who she would someday  
give birth to almost fall out of the tree. "Sonomi, this is my new history teacher, Mr. Kinomoto.  
He JUST graduated from the university this winter and replaced old Mrs. Granger."  
  
"It's nice to meet you, sir." Sonomi shook the man's hand, but there was ice in her voice  
and a stoniness to her gaze that somehow gave the impression that maybe she wasn't so pleased to  
meet him, after all. "Thank you for saving Nadeshiko. She's a little bit more childish than she  
cares to admit."  
  
"SONOMI!" The skinny girl moved to bop her cousin, but she was laughing. They both were.  
  
Spring turned to summer turned to fall, or at least that was the impression Sakura got as  
she watched time seem to shift and move fast, passing her more swiftly than it should have. Winter  
came and went, and the cycle repeated another time, and then it was spring again. Sonomi and   
Nadeshiko sat beneath the oak tree, discussing something in hushed tones. Then, suddenly, the   
short-haired teen hopped to her feet. "You can NOT be serious!" she raged, glaring down at her   
cousin with anger in her dark eyes. "You're kidding, right? RIGHT, Nadeshiko?"  
  
Nadeshiko stood up, too, but she looked guilty more than anything. Years had definitely   
passed, and her form showed it. She was still thin, but she wasn't gangly, and her curves made her  
look older than sixteen or seventeen years old. Her long, dark hair was bound with a rubber band  
in the middle of her back, but the ponytail still reached past her bottom. She sighed and shook   
her head, but she was smiling. Somewhat, at least. "I like him, and he likes me, too," she   
responded to her friend's ravings, her face turning somewhat red. "We've been trying to keep it   
under wraps, but it's hard to do, and... I thought I would tell you."  
  
"You act like it's no big DEAL, Nadeshiko!" shot back her friend, hands on her curvaceous  
hips, and the only thought in Sakura's head for a moment was how similar Tomoyo and Sonomi looked  
in terms of body shape. "You are DATING our history teacher! That IS a big deal, and I'm the   
president of the junior class! Hell if I'm not taking this to the - "  
  
"You can't." Her voice was a whisper, but it was loud enough, and it stopped Sonomi in her  
tracks. Tears welled up in green eyes and then tumbled down pale cheeks, and Nadeshiko swallowed,  
hard, before wiping them away with her blouse sleeve. "Sonomi, you know that I wouldn't tell you   
to bend the rules any other time, but this is important to me. I... I've dated a lot of boys,   
Sonomi. A lot of them. And I have never, ever felt this way about any of them. Fujitaka makes   
me feel like I can actually be a pianist, be a writer, see the world. Not even my parents support  
me like that, and... I think I love him, Sonomi."  
  
Her cousin snorted and tossed her short hair. "My God, Nadeshiko, you are sixteen years old!  
SIXTEEN! You can't actually believe that this...this little GAME of yours...is love!" Green eyes   
stared at her, teary, and she sighed, her shoulders drooping slightly. She pursed her lips and   
glanced over her shoulder, at the high school in the background, and she chuckled slightly to  
herself. "Dammit, Nadeshiko, if this gets me in trouble, I'm going to kill you."  
  
Nadeshiko shrieked in delight and pounced on her cousin, hugging her tightly around the  
neck. "Thank you SOOO much!" she laughed, hopping up and down in excitement as she pulled away  
from the embrace. "I absolutely PROMISE you that I won't make you regret this, Sonomi. I PROMISE."  
  
Time passed, again, and it was a summer, a year later. A young man, in his twenties,   
stood underneath the thick branches of the oak tree, caught up in a passionate kiss with a younger  
woman. Her long curls of dark hair were ruffled by the wind, as was her white graduation gown.  
After a moment, she pulled away, her fingers lingering in his brown hair before she stepped fully  
away from him.  
  
"I have to go, Fujitaka," she whispered, casting her green eyes on the ground beneath her   
feet. "I told my parents that I was running to catch up with a friend I wanted to congratulate,   
and I'm sure they miss me."  
  
Fujitaka Kinomoto smiled, moving to brush her bangs from her face gently. "I want to meet  
them, Nadeshiko," he breathed, landing a butterfly kiss on her forehead. "You talk so much about  
your parents. I want to see what they're like."  
  
She blushed, pursing her lips, a smile stealing across her face. But the smile turned sad,  
and she shook her head slightly. "I can't let you do that," she responded softly. "They would  
think it odd, me introducing my history teacher from the freshman year to them! And Sonomi would  
kill me for doing it."  
  
There was the rustling of cloth against grass as the dark-haired man knelt down on a   
single knee and reached forward, catching her hand in one of his. He kissed it gently, not noticing  
even as the young woman's eyes blossomed. Then, he reached into his blazer pocket and drew out a   
black box. Inside was a tiny diamond ring, the single stone set in a band of gold, the metal   
gleaming under the sunlight.   
  
"Don't introduce me as your teacher, then," he responded, slipping the ring onto her finger.  
He smiled up at her, eyes bright, and she smiled back at him, though tears coursed down her   
face. "Introduce me as your fiancé."  
  
More time passed by, and Sakura watched as her father and mother said their wedding vows  
in the middle of the park, and then walked hand and hand through it years later, Nadeshiko's belly  
sticking out in front of her, bloated from carrying her yet-unborn son. And then, again, she   
and Sonomi were under the tree, each of them with a baby stroller, a little boy playing nearby   
as they argued about something.  
  
"You're sick, Nadeshiko," Sonomi lashed out, her dark eyes piercing, cold, her voice   
bitter and harsh. "You don't want to admit it and you don't want to tell your family, and I can  
only guess why, and his name starts with an F. And that's fine, I'm USED to that, now. But my   
God, you could die!"  
  
Nadeshiko was more pale now than after, her face gaunt, her cheeks completely without   
the ruddy tones they had held years before. She was perhaps twenty-five, perhaps older; it was   
hard to tell, thanks to the lines that had set into her face earlier than they did to most. "I   
know, Sonomi," she responded softly, hardly able to annunciate the words as well as she used to.  
"My heart is really weak, and they think it's because of Sakura. But I think I should be alright.  
I mean, I had Touya when I was nineteen, and I was doing quite fine." She pursed her thin lips  
and glanced into the stroller, chuckling at the sleeping infant bundled within. "Besides, would  
you run around announcing you were sick to the entire world, even if you WERE?"  
  
Her cousin said nothing and turned away, and the slender woman - once beautiful, now   
simply sickly - smirked slightly. "I thought so." She turned toward the nearby slide and cupped her  
hands around her mouth, and for a brief moment, her face regained some of the determination of   
a woman who knew and understood her inner strength. "C'mon, Touya!" she called out to the six-year-  
old at the bottom of the slide. "We're going home, now!"  
  
The movement of time all around, pushing in and out of her, causing her stomach to flip-flop  
and her hands to shake. Another year, then two, and then it stopped again. This time, it was her  
father underneath the oak tree, his brown eyes sad, and Sonomi right up in his face...just like she  
had been that morning.  
  
"You killed her, even if you don't want to admit it!" spat the businesswoman, her eyes  
dark, slivers of purple against a pale face. "You married her two young, you made her have your   
babies, and NOW look! She's gone, Fujitaka! Totally gone!"   
  
"I know," he nodded. His voice was course, sandpaper rough, and he couldn't bring himself  
to meet her gaze. "I know she's gone. But I would rather not look at this as a blame game,   
Sonomi. I think - "  
  
"It's always about what you think and want, Fujitaka." Her tone was like ice. "You wanted  
a sixteen-year-old girl, and you got her. You wanted a wife, and you got that. And you wanted   
children. Oh, look. You have them, too. You have EVERYTHING, Fujitaka. But Nadeshiko never got that  
chance."  
  
For a moment, the young man looked like he was going to cry, but then he laughed and   
shook his head slowly, as if he just remembered a joke from years ago. "I heard you two, twelve  
years ago, when Nadeshiko was climbing the tree," he told the dark-haired woman softly, her   
face registering shock as he spoke. "I didn't mean to listen in, but her voice carried across the  
whole park. I heard about her dreams, about getting out of Albany, about living her dream. And I   
told her that the other day, right before..." He trailed off, his gaze snapping up to meet Sonomi's.  
"You know what she said? She said that her dreams - her REAL dreams - came true in the life she   
had, and that traveling and being a writer or an artist, it never meant as much as being with   
Touya, Sakura, and I. And I believe her."  
  
Sonomi opened her mouth as though she was about to say something, but time froze at that  
moment, and the world slowly began to turn around from within, shadowing and fading until it was   
darkness again. She choked on the darkness, feeling it pull her deep, unwilling to let her go.   
It was as though she was sinking into the dark, unable to kick her way away from it, unable to   
move.  
  
And then, the light broke through the darkness and she was in the midst of leaves and   
sticks, gasping for breath, her head hanging between her arms. Since when had she been here, on  
hands and knees, and so -   
  
"SAKURA!" Tomoyo's voice was loud and clear, and it rang in her ears like the campus bells  
rang every morning. "You HAVE to seal the card! NOW!"  
  
She clambered to her feet before she could really process what was going on, bending over  
only long enough to grab the Key of Clow from the ground. This time, the words of summoning   
brought all the familiarity of the cards' magic flowing into her veins. She whirled around on one  
heel, ready to fight the card, ready to do whatever she needed to.  
  
And then, she froze.  
  
There was nothing there. No monstrous bird-thing, or floating balloon, or anything. Just  
Tomoyo, looking scared, her purple eyes waiting for her to move, and Li, kneeling, his sword   
digging into the ground. No, she frowned, looking down at the tip of the sword. Something was   
keeping the tip from touching the ground. A card.  
  
The Time card.  
  
"SAKURA!" This voice had an odd twang to it, and she turned her head to see Kero diving   
toward the trio of college students, his face a mask of panic. "You gotta seal the card, an'   
fast! Li ain't got much more power!"  
  
"But..." She glanced at the trunk of the tree, which was just as it had always been. It   
looked almost exactly like the tree she had been sitting in, the tree that her mother had fallen  
out of, years before, the tree her parents had gotten engaged under, the tree that -   
  
"The card is IN the tree!" screamed the orange plushie urgently. "Stop thinkin', Sakura,  
and SEAL it!"  
  
Shaking her head, Sakura flipped the staff into her hands and raised it over her, setting  
herself into a resolved state of mind. The past was over, and she was here, now.   
  
Tomoyo stared at her, as did the Guardian of the Clow. And despite the fact his eyes were  
scrunched closed and that all his energies were focused on the Time card, she knew that Li was   
depending on her, too.  
  
"Return to your true form! CLOW CARD!"  
  
Energy flowed around the tree, pulling from it what appeared to be a ball of black. The  
blackness slowly took shape and form, turning from a sphere of nothingness and into a Clow card.  
It wafted through the air on an unseen breeze before landing next to Li, who collapsed onto the   
ground, exhausted.  
  
"Li!" Sakura stumbled over herself as she dropped the Staff of Sealing and moved to help  
the brown-haired young man sit up, his side leaning against the giant oak tree. His eyes were   
bloodshot, as though he hadn't slept the entire night, and his chest rose and fell in long,   
shuddering breaths. "Are you alright?"  
  
Keroberos landed on the ground lightly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Kiddo here   
decided he dun wanna wait for the Return card to go an' catch you up to real time," he explained,  
smirking rather haughtily. "I told 'em that the Return ain't able to hold you in the past DAT  
long, but he dun listen to the Guardian of the Clow."  
  
The young man moved to smack the plushie, and Kero flew through the air and into a nearby  
log. "She'd already been there for several hours," he shot, glowering weakly at the swirly-eyed  
creature. "I wasn't going to trust the card..."  
  
"What happened in there?" Suddenly Tomoyo was kneeling on the forest floor with her best   
friend, concern in her purple eyes. Sakura couldn't help but see the family resemblance between   
Tomoyo and Sonomi...and between Tomoyo and her second cousin, Nadeshiko. "When I got home at 9, you  
and the costume were gone, and Li came by at midnight saying that there was a card in the oak   
in the ravine, and..." She trailed off, brow furrowing. "What did you see?"  
  
The brunette removed the ridiculously large hat from her head and hugged it to her chest,  
glancing up at the sky. The sun was already coming up, and the serene bluish-purple hues that   
were stealing across the heavens were beautiful, almost as beautiful as the bright green eyes   
of her mother. But how could she explain all that to her roommate and her arch enemy?   
  
Shrugging, Sakura climbed to her feet and offered a hand to Li, who excepted it - and   
the aid of a shoulder to lean against as he walked - with a coy reluctance. "I saw the way things  
were," she responded with a half-smile, her eyes alighting as they started down the path toward  
the college campus. "And it was really nice, but... I'm glad to be here, now."   
  
She paused, her grip around Li's waist tightening as she remembered the pure delight in her   
mother's smiling eyes on that day when she had decided she would marry her history teacher and   
live her dreams.  
  
"I'm glad," she amended, her smile brightening, "that things are the way they are, now."  
  
===  
  
"You were Mom's teacher, weren't you?"  
  
The little corner restaurant was bustling for the breakfast hour, but it was not silent   
enough to drown out the sound of a fork smashing against a plate. The waitress who was refilling  
Fujitaka's coffee cup shot him a rather disdainful look and then sighed, muttering something about  
college towns as she stalked off toward the kitchen. Her patron coughed and picked up his utensil,  
smiling charmingly as he speared a piece of pancake. "Why in the world would you say that, Sakura?"  
he questioned, acting as though he was the most innocent person in the universe. "Have you been   
listening to your brother's tall tales again?"  
  
It had been six a.m. when they made it back to the dorms, and Sakura had hustled to shower  
and dress (in a skirt, since she was out of clean pants) for her breakfast date with her father  
that morning. Touya had called to apologize for his behavior some time in the wee hours before the  
dawn, and she had smiled when his recorded voice promised up-and-down to tell her anything she   
wanted to know from now on. She deleted the message and shook her head; she would now get the   
chance to gloat that she didn't need his information. And he would tease her back, but that was   
part of being siblings. Part of being a family.  
  
Rolling her eyes, Sakura set down her coffee cup and sent her father a dubious look.   
"Tomoyo told me a little story about her mother's cousin," she half-lied, trying her best not to   
smile. She wanted this to be a serious discussion, even if it was a discussion she - and probably  
only she - could smile about. "You see, this woman - Nadeshiko Amamiya - married her history   
teacher and had two children. But her body was weak, and she had heart problems, and so she ended  
up dying at 27. Sound kind of familiar?"  
  
Her father smiled sadly and sighed, shaking his head in her direction. "When I saw the name  
'Tomoyo Daidouji' on your roommate slip freshman year, I prayed that you would hear the story from  
your brother. But Touya is... Touya." She laughed, and he nodded, his smile losing a bit of it's  
more solemn quality. "He said he wouldn't tell you, and that it shouldn't be important. He doesn't  
really like Sonomi any more than she likes me." He paused, taking a long sip of his drink. "And I  
wanted to tell you, but how do you tell a story like that to your daughter, when she only remembers  
bits and pieces of her mother's life? I didn't want you to think that she was some sort of   
promiscuous girl, or that I was some sort of pervert. Your approval of me is important, Blossom,  
and... I was kind of scared.  
  
"Of course, the incident with Sonomi yesterday was...unexpected," he pressed on, taking a   
bite of his breakfast as he spoke. "It brought out a rather ugly truth, and that is that I did   
indirectly cause your mother's death. I won't stop loving her, or stop feeling regret for what  
happened to her, but I will always feel guilt for stealing her life from her." He pursed his   
lips, frowning. "Sonomi told me yesterday that I kept your mother from many things she wanted to   
do with her life...and she's right. I kept your mother from her dreams, and I will never forgive  
myself for that."  
  
Sighing, Sakura reached across the table and took her father's hand in her own, squeezing  
it tightly. Fujitaka looked surprised by this simple motion, but he reached to lay his other hand,  
the one with his wedding band, over hers. "I think that Mom was happiest with us," she responded,  
smiling brightly up at him. "And I think we made her dream come true, by loving her back as much  
as she loved us."  
  
Her father smiled, the laugh lines around his eyes crinkling pleasantly. "You know, Sakura,"  
he commented, squeezing her hand back, "in some ways, you really are a lot like your mother."  
  
She said nothing, but she did smile back.  
  
===  
  
"Hello?"  
  
It was three in the afternoon, and Shao-Lang Li had planned on taking a run. He'd cleaned   
the mud from the day previous from his shoes, pulled out his favorite pair of jogging shorts, and   
even taken the time to burn a new "Running" CD. But then, just as he was ready to change, the   
phone had rung.  
  
The voice on the other end caused his brow to crease and a frown to play across his face.  
"Yes, Mother, I'm doing well. How are you? Glad to hear it. And the girls? That's good to hear."  
He tapped his toe impatiently on his carpeted dorm floor, a bad habit that came from years of   
disliking the phone call. "Really? Well, I hope Sai-Lau finds her cat, then. Yes. No, Mother,   
I'm doing FINE with the English language. And I'm eating well, too."  
  
And then, the voice of his mother - a voice he had heard every day since he had been   
born, a voice he had learned to tolerate and smile at and love - said something completely   
unexpected, and it was all he could do to keep holding onto the handset of his cordless phone.  
"She's WHAT?!" he gaped, trying his hardest to remain standing. "Why in the WORLD is she - Oh.  
Okay. Yes, Mother. So long. You too. Bye."  
  
The beep that sounded when he hung up the fell on deaf ears as he leaned against the   
cinderblock wall of his dorm room and blinked into space.  
  
His cousin...coming to THIS college?  
  
Suddenly, he wanted to run a lot further than to the ravine.  
  
===  
End Chapter 6. 


	8. Chapter 7: Singularity

He ran.  
  
Of course, he rationalized to himself as he did it. It was his nature to rationalize, he had   
  
discovered only after his high school psychology course had finished up and left him pondering the motives  
  
and meanings of his own behaviors. Rationalization was his way of coping with stress...or, more appropriately,  
  
his way of coping with the things he tended to say and do while stressed. Once, when she had been VERY  
  
upset with something he'd inadvertently blurted out while annoyed, his cousin had informed him that he could  
  
be a very nice person when he wanted to be, but that he hid it underneath a patch of briar. That, coupled  
  
with the Freudian psychologies he had learned in class, allowed him to realize and grow. Yes, he snapped  
  
at people when stressed. And then, he told himself that it was justified, therefore alleviating the pressure  
  
of said stress.  
  
But all that was immaterial to the situation at hand.  
  
The leaves that still remained on the campus sidewalks - most had been cleaned up by the campus   
  
landscaping crew - crunched under his running shoes as he jogged through the quad. The morning sun had just  
  
crested the tall hill just beyond campus, shining brightly across the still-green grass and the dried,   
  
dead brown leaves of autumn. A crisp wind shook the bare branches above his head and he picked up the pace,  
  
not wanting to listen to the branches knocking together. They reminded him of bones, dancing late at night  
  
as they always did in the ghost stories his older sisters told him when they were younger.  
  
He was not in the mood for ghost stories.  
  
Since his mother had called with her "news," life had managed to drag on at its normal, relentlessly  
  
dull pace. At least, for most people. For him, every day consisted of the ticking of a time bomb sent from   
  
Hong Kong. Even as he rushed about with Kinomoto and her obnoxious, camera-toting roommate, the fact remained  
  
that - cards or no cards - life as he knew it was about to end, and with that came -   
  
"Hey, Li! Hi!" Rudely tugged from his thoughts, Shao-Lang Li glanced up from the pavement to see   
  
a familiar brunette jogging towards him via another sidewalk, waving merrily. She was wearing wind pants  
  
and a white tank-top, and her headphones dangled, useless, around her neck as she rushed to meet him. "I   
  
tried to call your room to see if you wanted company this morning, but I didn't get an answer."  
  
He honestly did try to smile at Sakura, but the smile failed and he slowed his almost uncomfortable  
  
pace until they were in step together, joining at the fork in the sidewalk to run side by side. "Happens  
  
sometimes when you have a single," he shrugged nonchalantly, shifting a bit as her green eyes peered at him  
  
carefully, as though giving him a once-over. "I just wanted to come out here and think, and I figured getting  
  
exercise at the same time wouldn't be a bad idea."  
  
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" His head snapped around to glower in her direction  
  
and she laughed, tossing her bob of brown hair. "I didn't mean it like THAT!" she protested, making a   
  
face at him as they crossed in front of the silent cafeteria and towards the old gym building and the   
  
ravine beyond. "I just mean... Well, up until this week, we'd been running into each other while jogging,  
  
and now, we just... Don't." She looked away, and he frowned, a bit confused by her sudden change in demeanor.  
  
"I happen to like running with someone else, sometimes, and... Well..."  
  
"I know what you mean," he shrugged, smirking as she shifted just enough to peer towards him out of  
  
the corner of her eye. "It is sometimes more fun to run with someone else, even you." He paused a beat,  
  
considering, their gazes locking. "But don't think that means I LIKE you or anything, because you're still  
  
a spaz."  
  
She squealed and made a swipe for the back of his head, but it was too late. Shao-Lang had already   
  
taken off ahead of her, pounding down the sidewalk and leaving her reeling to catch up, both breathless with  
  
laughter as they started down the steep path and into the ravine.  
  
But, despite Sakura's screaming and his own chuckles, he could still hear the ticking of the time   
  
bomb in the back of his mind, a regular beat, counting down the seconds until his demise.  
  
========================  
  
"An American Cardcaptor"  
  
A Cardcaptor Sakura Alternate Universe Fanfiction  
  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
  
Chapter 7: "Singularity"  
  
========================  
  
"I don't see why Naoko can't do her OWN damned paperwork," muttered Sakura bitterly, drumming her   
  
pen on the floor impatiently. The form that laid before her was damp with White-Out, and no matter how hard  
  
she glared at it, it just plain refused to dry any faster! "She knew that the new girl was moving in this  
  
week, but does she do any of the work? NOOOOOOOOO. And now, she has tests all week and I have to do it!"  
  
Groaning in frustration, she went back to filling in all the blanks, keeping her handwriting light in case  
  
the White-Out wasn't totally dry. "When I get my hands on her..."  
  
Giggling slightly in her pristine, very "Tomoyo" way, Tomoyo glanced up from her sketchbook and   
  
smiled sweetly at her roommate. Not that it mattered, because Sakura didn't notice the sympathetic expression;  
  
no, she was once again dragging the White-Out brush across her writing, muttering under her breath about one  
  
thing or another. "Yeah, but the deal was that Naoko's helping our fine end-of-the-hall dweller move in   
  
on Saturday, so in a way, it's somewhat even." Green eyes snapped up at her, glaring, and she grit her   
  
teeth and forced a rather hopeful smile. "Or, uhm, it's totally NOT even and Naoko needs to die a slow and  
  
painful death. Whichever." Shrugging, she returned to her sketching, charcoal pencil scratching loud enough  
  
to be heard through the room. "Who is this new girl, anyway? Someone moving in from one of the other   
  
buildings?"  
  
"Is she gonna have snacks?" Kero paused his video game long enough to direct black puppy-dog eyes  
  
towards his infuriated ward. "I LIKE snacks, ya know."  
  
He barely managed to duck the bottle of White-Out that was aimed at his head.  
  
Sakura groaned and slammed her pen down on the stack of paperwork before clambering onto her bed  
  
and letting out a frustrated - and overly dramatic - sigh. "I don't know her personally," she informed her  
  
duo of companions. "Some transfer student from abroad. 'May Lynn Lee,' I think her name is." Picking up the  
  
brown teddy bear she kept nestled between the wall and her pillows, she burrowed her head in his belly.  
  
"I have to do all the stupid room inventory sheets, which takes FOREVER. Why Barbara moved out of the single  
  
in the FIRST place..."  
  
"If I recall correctly," put in Tomoyo helpfully, not looking up from her sketching, "Barbara was a   
  
marijuana addict who was paying for college by selling the stuff out of her dorm room."  
  
"Shoulda sold SNACKS," the orange Guardian of the Clow suggested with a sage nod. "I woulda been   
  
her biggest customer if she'd a sold SNACKS."  
  
He nearly was beamed upside the head with Sakura's keychain, this time.  
  
"I just wish things were less HECTIC!" professed the brunette, sitting up in her bed and allowing her  
  
bear to tumble to the ground. A cool breeze rustled the draperies that her roommate had sewn only a few   
  
days before, and she threw up her hands in frustration as she realized that neither of her friends were even  
  
looking at her - they were both too engrossed in their pastimes to pay any REAL attention. "Here it is,  
  
a little after three on a Tuesday afternoon, and I have hall forms to fill out, a paper to write, TWO quizzes  
  
to study for by Friday, and that's withOUT worrying about my whole cardcaptor gig! Meanwhile, Tomoyo, you're   
  
drawing God-knows-what in that sketchbook that you found in the stationary store that you were shopping at  
  
while I caught Sword yesterday, and KERO, you're playing Final Fantasy X through for the THIRD time since   
  
you've gotten here!"  
  
Kero paused his game and turned around, glancing first at the brunette, then back at the screen, and  
  
then towards her again. "I guess it ain't a good idea to point out dat this here game is Final Fantasy 9?"  
  
He yelped and dove to the ground just in time to avoid one of Sakura's lit books.   
  
Tomoyo, on the other hand, just smiled sweetly and closed her sketchbook, setting it down upon her   
  
desk. "Why don't I help you with your paperwork?" she suggested, her purple eyes glimmering. "That way,  
  
you can start your paper without having to worry about hall stuff."  
  
"Or, ya know," thought Kero aloud, his game still paused as he smirked up at the long-haired   
  
sophomore, "Sakura COULD stop whinin' and start WORKIN', which would ALSO get stuff done faster."  
  
Unfortunately for Kero, Sakura's favorite stuffed bear was right on the mark, and his reward for   
  
stating the obvious was a mouth full of faux fur.  
  
===  
  
Paper written, one quiz studied for, and hall work finished and turned into Naoko, Sakura stared   
  
idly at the ceiling in her darkened dorm room, listening idly to the tick-tock of her analog alarm clock on   
  
her dresser, the sound both annoying and comforting in her tired ears.  
  
Most nights, the brunette found sleep to be a welcome change of pace from her day-to-day activities,  
  
the night embracing her like a lover would and taking her away from the daily doldrums of her strange and   
  
hectic life. But there were nights in which sleep was a stranger, leaving her alone and staring at the   
  
textured white ceiling, helpless and alone.   
  
This was slowly becoming one of those nights.  
  
How many Clow cards laid, dormant, in the book of Clow that she'd stashed in the bottom drawer of  
  
her dresser, beneath her blue jeans and sweat pants? A quick mental count revealed that, with Sword and   
  
Shield - two cards she'd captured in the week and a half since the fiasco with the Return card - she was   
  
the proud owner of 15 of the, what was it, 50-odd cards that had scattered themselves around campus? That   
  
left two-thirds of the cards still somewhere in the world, able to cause as much trouble as they cared to   
  
until SHE captured them. SHE, a young woman who had once been just a normal college sophomore. SHE, the   
  
cardcaptor. Sakura.  
  
As Kero - or had it been Li? Her sleep-deprived mind failed to sort out who had said what - had   
  
promised early on, her skills were improving. Often, she found herself turning quickly on her heel in response  
  
to a surprise tingling on the air, a tingling that could only be caused by a card passing by. In fact, she   
  
had only discovered Sword when poking through the old supply closet in the rec center; it had hidden itself  
  
amongst a pile of fencing foils. Of course, the clever discovery alone failed to be enough, and only after   
  
being chased by the sharp implement AND dueling against it (using the Staff of Sealing as her weapon) had   
  
she finally been able to restore it to its proper card form.   
  
Li, both fortunately and unfortunately, had been miraculously absent during her blunder-filled battle  
  
with Sword. Come to think of it, he'd been absent during her fairly flawless capture of Shield, too. They   
  
passed each other only rarely on the quad or in the cafeteria, and when they did, neither said anything. They  
  
moved on with their lives, like circles passing over circles, intersecting enough times that they were almost  
  
entwined.  
  
...wasn't there a song like that? "Like a circle in a circle, like a wheel within a wheel"? She  
  
frowned and mentally swore to never listen to Tomoyo's stupid jazz CDs ever again.   
  
Could it be that their lives were meant to intertwine in such a way? Sakura rolled onto her side,   
  
curling into her comforter, eyelids uncomfortably heavy. Perhaps she had been meant to open that book,   
  
long before, and perhaps she'd also been destined to meet and work with Li. But then again, it could always  
  
have been one cosmic fluke for which no one was responsible.  
  
A cosmic fluke... Somehow, she trusted those odds a lot more than she trusted the whole destiny  
  
thing.  
  
Not that it mattered. Sleep snuck up on her, stealthily and silently, snuggling into her bed and   
  
wrapping its long arms around her, embracing her, pulling her into the familiar world where there were no   
  
cards, no paperwork, and no worries. A sweet, happy world which she could enjoy and live contentedly in...  
  
if only for a little while.  
  
So exhausted was the captor of the Clow cards that she slept straight through until morning without  
  
any interruption, even when the door opened briefly and then shut, securely locking behind the shadowed   
  
figure creeping out of the room.  
  
===  
  
"Ya know, Sakura," thought Kero aloud as he fluttered just above the brunette's shoulder, munching  
  
cheerily on the last few sticks of pocky from a box he'd found in Tomoyo's closet, "for a gal who dun like  
  
her brother too much, ya sure are goin' outta your way to go see him."  
  
Wednesdays in the life of Sakura Kinomoto tended to be the only truly "slow" days in her usually   
  
busy school week. Of her four classes, only biology and its corresponding lab met on Wednesdays, which   
  
sometimes was a blessing and sometimes, a sin. Biology was, for lack of a better way of putting it, Sakura's  
  
absolutely worst subject on the face of the planet, and she usually dreaded the course more than she   
  
dreaded anything else...including seeing her brother. But the one thing she had to say about the biology   
  
labs she participated in was that they were HARD. Not HARD in a mild way, but hard in the "Holy Hell, I don't  
  
even know what the question is ASKING and now you expect me to ANSWER it based on all the data I collected but  
  
didn't understand?"  
  
For most of the students in Biology 200, then, the laboratory portion of the class instilled dread,  
  
frustration, and confusing in their poor little minds. But for Sakura, the brightest part of the week was   
  
when she found a question she didn't understand. Because, when that inevitable moment of cluelessness   
  
arrived, and the cold hand of confusion gripped at her neck, she was able to pack up everything for her lab  
  
and do the only thing she knew how to do.  
  
Go ask medical school student Yukito Tsukishiro for help!  
  
Making a face at her floating orange plushie, Sakura used the metallic gray mailboxes in the foyer of   
  
her brother's apartment building to check her hair and makeup, just in case the five minute walk from her  
  
dorm had somehow caused her mascara to run. "I don't really care for Touya, but YUKI is a biological god," she  
  
argued, finger-combing her pigtails before starting up the stairs in pairs. "He always helps me with my   
  
homework, and is sweet and supportive and - "  
  
"Flamin'." Keroberos ducked underneath the hand that was aimed towards him, and laughed as Sakura  
  
tossed her hair and continued up the stairs, her expression more dour now than it had been the day before when  
  
he had been target practice for her rather poor attempts at throwing. "Sakura, ya gotta realize that this  
  
guy ain't acceptin' positively charged ions." He grinned at his own joke, a toothy smile that was marred a  
  
bit by bits of chocolate icing from the pocky. "Dat was a good one. A chem joke ta go with your bio thing."  
  
The brunette summarily ignored the plushie, knocking loudly on the door to apartment 4F. She frowned  
  
when she realized that "Coming!" had been hollered by her brother and NOT Yukito, but she didn't allow that  
  
to bother her. Instead, she smiled charmingly and waited.  
  
Kero wrinkled his nose and crossed his little arms over his chest, giving up on flying circles around  
  
her head as he perched on her shoulder. "I should call ya 'Cleopatra,'" he snorted, receiving an annoyed glare  
  
from green eyes. "Ya are, after all, da queen of DENIAL."  
  
Amazingly annoyed, Sakura was just about to give up on ignoring the guardian beast's existence when  
  
the door opened to reveal her brother, wearing nothing more than a towel around his waist. His dark eyes  
  
lowered in her direction as she took a baby step back, surprised at his state of undress. "What are you doing  
  
back here already?" he questioned, voice not gruff so much as it was surprised. "Left something over here   
  
when you committed that drive-by rape of my roommate?"  
  
"HOE?!" If Sakura had been simply annoyed at Kero, her brother's question - whatever the Hell   
  
it meant in the first place - drove her right over the barrier of annoyed and into the territory of angry,  
  
and the sudden change in her expression from charming to satanic proved this. "Drive-by WHAT? And where the  
  
Hell do you get off thinking that I've already been here today?"  
  
"It could be because you were already here." Touya leaned heavily against the doorjamb, his dark   
  
hair damp enough to drip onto his nose, leaving him to wipe away the moisture with a hasty hand. "You came  
  
in and, when Yuki answered, grabbed him and tried to kiss him. Or so he told me, anyway." He shrugged slightly,  
  
conveniently not noticing that his sister's face had turned BRIGHT PINK at this revelation. "What you were  
  
thinking, I don't know, but you ran off when he pushed you away. Typical spazzy behavior from the monster,  
  
if you ask me."  
  
Sakura tried to say something - anything - in response, but her first two attempts left her simply  
  
squawking, her voice helplessly stuck in the back of her throat as she gaped up at her sibling. Then, pausing  
  
to take a deep breath, she tried again, and, as luck would have it, the third time was the charm. "I did  
  
WHAT?!" she blurted, her voice cracking. Touya blinked at her, his brow furrowing, as she threw up her hands  
  
in defeat. "Well, great. That's just GREAT! Some look-alike of mine not only shows up HERE, of ALL places,   
  
but then SHE gets closer to kissing MY Yukito than I have EVER gotten!" The words poured too quickly from her  
  
lips for her to stop them, and it was only after her sentence finished up that she came to the shocking - and  
  
completely EMBARRASSING - realization of what exactly she had said. Her cheeks warmed, and she didn't need  
  
the mirror-shiny mailboxes in the building's foyer to tell her that she was blushing. "Uhm... I mean...   
  
Well..... Gotta go, bye!"  
  
She didn't doubt that Touya was still staring at her even as she careened down the stairs at a   
  
breakneck pace, her death grip on the banister the only thing keeping her from tumbling face-first down them.  
  
Kero hardly waited until they were past the third floor landing to question his charge. "What da HELL was  
  
THAT?!" he demanded impatiently, flapping his wings madly in order to simply keep up with her. "Sakura, what   
  
was your brother talkin' 'bout? I thought ya had class and lab all day!"  
  
"I DID," she responded breathlessly, allowing herself only to slow from her red-cheeked run when she'd  
  
reached the sidewalk outside the building. Collapsing onto a park bench just beyond the building's main   
  
door, she sighed and shook her head. "I don't get it. Why would Touya think that I'd already been there   
  
today? I mean, he's stooped to some pretty INCREDIBLE lows, but he wouldn't make something like that up."  
  
She chewed pensively on a fingernail, staring at her hovering plush toy with careful green eyes. "Something  
  
funny is going on here, and - "  
  
"Kinomoto." It was not a question or a greeting more than a statement of fact, and she was surprised -  
  
and also somehow not surprised - to see Shao-Lang Li walking up to the bench, backpack in tow. "You feel it?"  
  
"If this is about a card, I don't want to hear it, Li," she spat, hopping to her feet and staring   
  
down the sidewalk, Hell-bent on pushing past him and moving on with her life. "I've had enough weird   
  
happenings today, so I do NOT want to deal with your Clow card deja vu. Yes, I feel something, but - "  
  
He grasped her arm - hard, too - as she tried to press by him, and she snapped her head around to look  
  
up at him. "Are you aware of the fact that, even as we speak, you are also in the Union, eating French fries  
  
and reading one of your text books?" Her glower faded, and he nodded slightly, his brown eyes neither angry  
  
or annoyed, but simply even. Apathetic. Alert. "You are also out jogging, and I have a strange feeling that  
  
you're in your dorm room right now, too."  
  
For a moment, her shocked look overwhelmed all the other expressions in her repertoire, and then Sakura  
  
huffed and tugged her arm from his grip. "For someone who thinks he's SO smart, you sure are a unique new  
  
brand of RETARD," she shot, scowling up at him. "There is only ONE Sakura Kinomoto, and she is RIGHT HERE.  
  
If the ONLY one is right here, then there can't be two or three OTHER Sakura Kinomotos, now CAN there?"  
  
"Uh, actually, 'Kura," began Kero helpfully, holding up a paw, "with the Clow cards bein' as they - "  
  
"You stay out of this!" the duo of brown-haired cardcaptors shouted, and the guardian of the Clow  
  
slunk backwards as they yelled, ears and wings tucked down in the defensive position.  
  
The arguing resumed, loudly echoing through the rather tepid fall day, and Kero sighed and shook his  
  
head. "Ya know," he commented to himself pensively, glancing towards the sky as he spoke, "they would really  
  
be the perfect couple if they didn't hate each other so darn much."  
  
===  
  
All things considered, Sakura had never expected Li to be RIGHT.   
  
His news that there was more than one copy of her running around campus had, at least initially,   
  
come as a shock. It remained a shock even after she pushed past him and skulked down the sidewalk with   
  
Kero - pouting after being shouted at - following docilely behind. She wrote off the Sakura at her brother's  
  
apartment (if it had really been a Sakura at all) as a fluke, a folly, something random and unaccounted for.  
  
THAT could be ignored, and, if necessary, dealt with.  
  
Running into herself four times en route to her dormitory, however, could NOT.  
  
The first Sakura she saw sat sweetly under a tree. She didn't read, or write, or nap, no; she just  
  
sat there in a long, flowing blue kimono, staring out into the quad with a cute little smile on her face.   
  
That was it. Didn't say or do ANYTHING, and Sakura could not be sure if she thought that that fact alone  
  
was good or bad.  
  
Her second clone, if the other Sakuras could really be called that, was dressed in a bikini and   
  
sunbathing on the sidewalk that lead up to the library. Now this, the original Sakura had to admit, was a   
  
bit weird. And by a "bit" weird, she meant EXTREMELY weird. Especially considering the fact that - while  
  
she (the original) could not get a date to save her LIFE - males kept walking up to the sunbathing Sakura  
  
and engaging her in conversation. Or at least trying to; as far as the cardcaptor could tell, her soon-to-be-  
  
sun burnt twin refused to respond.  
  
Of course, a sunbather and a traditional-looking Japanese rendition of herself were just not enough  
  
for the world to toss her way, nooooooo. Sitting in the TV lounge was Sakura Number 3, wearing a New York   
  
Yankees jersey with spandex shorts and watching the season recap special on ESPN. The real Sakura scowled  
  
at her sports-viewing counterpart, slightly disturbed that her CLONE got to watch the season special in real  
  
time while she herself was forced to tape it in order to get work done.  
  
And then, she realized that the fact she was jealous at ALL of some sort of strange supernatural   
  
echo of herself was far more disturbing than missing the program in the first place.  
  
A trip to her floor's community-style bathroom revealed the fourth and final Sakura, who was soaking   
  
in a bathtub full of bubbles, her hair twisted in a towel and eyes lulled closed as she relaxed. Frowning,  
  
the REAL Sakura - though she was beginning to have her doubts about whether or not she was all that real   
  
in the first place - tiptoed out of the bathroom, down the hall, and then snaked into her room, hardly noticed  
  
by Tomoyo even as she closed and locked the door behind her.  
  
What DID get her roommate's attention, however, was her grabbing the still-sulking Keroberos by   
  
the neck and shaking him roughly while screaming "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!"  
  
"Lemme...go...an'...I'll...tell...ya..." choked the plushie, and - after a roar of abject disgust -  
  
Sakura threw him to the floor in frustration, making quite the show of throwing herself, face-down, onto  
  
her bed. Kero groaned as he clambered to his little feet and sighed, fists resting on what would have been  
  
his hips, had he had hips at all. "It's a Clow Card," he informed his charge sternly.  
  
"No SHIT, Sherlock!" snapped the brunette, irritated. She rolled onto her side for what appeared to be  
  
the express purpose of glowering down at him. "Tell me, do you have any OTHER amazing revelations for me,  
  
or is that it? Because that was just a beacon of light to my darkness, Kero! It REALLY was!"  
  
As her roommate returned to hollering curse words into her pillow, Tomoyo cocked her head to the side  
  
and glanced towards the orange creature in the center of their floor. "Uhm, either I missed a memo, or   
  
something WEIRD is going on here. What happened?"  
  
"Eh, a card's doin' some weird shit," Kero informed her with a half-shrug, fluttering up to perch on  
  
the edge of her computer monitor. "Somethin' is mass-producin' Sakuras all over the place, and the REAL   
  
Sakura's gettin' all fritzed...out...'bout..." He blinked his black beads of eyes, glancing down not at the  
  
keyboard or mouse but at Tomoyo's sketchbook, which laid open atop a stack of books. "Tomoyo, were you drawin'  
  
Sakura in a tub full of bubbles right now?"  
  
The dark-haired girl nodded slightly, picking up the sketchbook to show the guardian beast. "I've   
  
been working on sketches of her to incorporate into my video journalism project," she informed him, flicking  
  
through the pages as she spoke. "I've got Sakura sunbathing, Sakura jogging, Sakura watching the Yankees,  
  
Sakura in the Union..." She was so engrossed in showing off her drawings that she didn't notice her roommate  
  
rising from her bed and leaning over her shoulder to see the sketches. "Here's my favorite - Sakura and   
  
Yukito in a PASSIONATE embrace. I was just Photoshopping it today when - " She paused as she glanced up   
  
towards her best friend, frowning. "Sakura, why is your face all white?"  
  
"Goddamn, Li was RIGHT!" In a flash, the brunette was up and halfway across the room, digging through  
  
her dresser drawer for the Book of Clow. "It IS a card! The Create card!"  
  
"VERY good, Sakura. Ya got me impressed!" Kero's praise fell on deaf ears as his ward shoved the   
  
already-captured cards into her backmost jeans pocket and stuffed the book back into her drawer. "Now, for  
  
this one, you gotta capture the creature created at the beginnin' of the book."  
  
There was the fluttering of paper as the video journalist paused from collecting her camera supplies  
  
to flip to the first page in her book. "I drew the jogging Sakura, first," she informed them, turning the   
  
tome around so the duo could get a good look at the fairly bare-bones drawing of her best friend running  
  
along what appeared to be a little stream. "So I guess that's the one you need to go after, right?"  
  
"Right!" announced Sakura, slipping on her running shoes - it seemed that her look-alikes, like   
  
Barbies, came complete with their necessary accessories - and tying them rather hastily. "Let's move!"  
  
"GAH! No! WAIT!" called Tomoyo, struggling to snap her vid disc into its appropriate place, her fingers  
  
fumbling as she watched the cardcaptor and her guardian beast head towards the door. "I'm almost ready!   
  
Wait for - "  
  
There was a slam as the door shut behind them, and her frantic expression turned sad as she stared  
  
at the closed panel of wood between herself and the hallway.  
  
" - me..."  
  
===  
  
The chase was on.  
  
Three pairs of footfalls stumbled through the ravine, crashing through underbrush and dead leaves   
  
loudly enough to wake the dead. Beside the tiny path that had been lovingly beaten out by a long-time runner,  
  
a creek babbled and gurgled, a strange soundtrack to the huffing and puffing of three college students   
  
crashing through a ravine.  
  
Well, two college students...and one Clow card.  
  
"She's sure as Hell faster than I am," gasped Sakura as she hopped over an exposed root, nearly  
  
losing her balance as she raced through the slowly-darkening forest, the sky above them the tell-tale orangey-  
  
pink of early evening. Her faltering footsteps allowed her a peak out of the corner of her eye at Li, who -  
  
despite being weighted down by his backpack - managed to keep pace rather well, his longer legs an advantage  
  
as they pressed onward.   
  
The Create card's version of Sakura hung a quick left at the large oak tree that split the creek  
  
in two, starting up the hill as fast as her legs could carry her. The brush off the homemade path was thicker  
  
and the leaves that had fallen from the autumn trees were still loose, slowing their ascent up the steep   
  
hill. "Once she gets up there, we're SCREWED!" shouted Kero, wings frantically fluttering in a pathetic   
  
attempt to keep up with the others; he panted between words and struggled to keep pace with the duo of   
  
college students. "We can't be seen on the main campus! Do SOMETHIN', Sakura!"   
  
Glancing back towards the Clow guardian, the brunette nodded quickly and reached back into her   
  
pocket, tugging out the first card she could gain any sort of purchase on - the Jump. "Jump!" she announced,  
  
pausing just long enough to throw the card out in front of her. "Let me hop up the slope!"  
  
Wings sprouted from her tennis shoes as soon as the bird head of the Staff of Sealing came down on  
  
the face of the card, and before she really knew what was happening, she was leaping up the side of the   
  
ravine, covering three times the distance that one normal stride would have taken her. Her artificial   
  
likeness pressed onward, showing no sign of fatigue, and didn't even bother looking back even as her pursuer  
  
leapt in her direction. Behind her, Shao-Lang slowed to a walk, doubling over to catch his breath as Kero   
  
flapped weakly to a stop beside him. Sakura watched them idly for a moment and then set herself resolutely  
  
towards her goal; if she couldn't catch the card, now, no one could.  
  
The jogging Sakura-clone was now only ten feet ahead, and her real counterpart summoned all her   
  
strength to launch herself high into the air, pulling the staff behind her head, ready to bring it down on  
  
the card. "Return to thy true form!" she commanded, and - for the first time - the card turned around to look  
  
at her, wide-eyed, appearing more frightened than anything else. "Clow CARD!"  
  
Sakura found herself suspended in midair above where the card had been standing, the familiar   
  
magical energy that came with capturing a Clow card swirling and twisting around her body as she kept her   
  
white-knuckled grip on the Staff of Sealing, knowing that, all too soon, it would end and she would fall the  
  
final ten-odd feet to the ground. The first time the magic of the Clow card had released and allowed   
  
gravity to take its course, she'd been wholly unprepared and nearly plummeted off the roof of the old   
  
gymnasium building. But she knew better, now. She was prepared for the impact that occurred when the magic  
  
released her, and adjusted accordingly.  
  
What she was NOT prepared for was her ankle making a blood-curdling CRACK-ing noise when she did  
  
hit the ground.  
  
"OW!" Tears burned her eyes as she stumbled backwards in pain, her rear end slamming hard against the  
  
uneven ground. She clutched her right ankle as a reflex, but grabbing it just made the pain grow worse,   
  
and her bleary eyes managed to catch a surprising sight as the number of tears increased: her ankle was  
  
already swollen to twice its size. "Li! Kero! ANYONE!"  
  
"What's wrong?" Kero appeared more a bolt of orange than a discernable shape as he zipped towards   
  
her, his wings fluttering so quickly that they were cream-colored blurs above his back. Sakura weakly   
  
let go of her ankle, showing it to him, and he only needed one glance before his eyes bugged out of their   
  
sockets...or, more appropriately, OFF of their threads. "Holy crap! Lookat the SIZE of that thing! I've only  
  
ever seen GRAPEFRUIT dat size!"  
  
The brunette tried to glower at him, but found that the pain was too much and all she could produce  
  
remained to be a helpless, teary-eyed frown. "I think it's broken," she moaned, so engrossed in her injury  
  
that she didn't notice Li's gradual approach up the hill. "I heard it crack when I landed on it, and - "  
  
"Hold still." Li's voice was even and she had not been expecting to hear it, watching in surprise as   
  
he bent down and carefully began to untie her shoe. Unfortunately, the knot was stubborn and, when he tugged  
  
too hard in an attempt to undo it, the motion jarred her ankle and sent her into a shrieking fit. "Stop   
  
that!" he commanded. His fingers nimbly finished undoing the laces and removed her shoe, a certain foreign  
  
gentleness to his touch. She did stop shrieking, at least after a moment, and stared at him, wide-eyed, as   
  
he prodded the swollen skin softly through her sock. "If it's not broken, then it's very badly sprained,"  
  
he informed her, brown eyes meeting teary green ones. Sakura flushed and glanced away, raking her hands across  
  
her face to dry her tears. "Plushie, go tell Daidouji that I took her roommate to the campus doctor, alright?"  
  
Kero's black eyes lowered to slits. "PLUSHIE? Ya callin' ME a plushie, kiddo?! Why, I oughta - "  
  
"GO." The young man's glower was so intense that the winged creature immediately stopped in mid-rant,  
  
swallowing hard enough for his little stuffed Adam's Apple to be visible. For a few seconds, he looked ready  
  
to protest, but then he frowned and nodded docilely. As he fluttered off, Li crouched down and looked   
  
Sakura in the eye. "Do you think you can hobble at all?" he questioned, offering her a helping hand.  
  
Nodding weakly, the brunette grasped his wrist and, putting all her weight on her left ankle, pulled  
  
herself up...or at least attempted to. Her footing on the uneven ground faltered and it was only a strong  
  
arm from her companion snaking around her waist that kept her from falling back onto her posterior. "I'm   
  
sorry," she apologized meekly, more-or-less laying on his arm as he stared down at her. There was concern in  
  
his expression, something she wasn't used to seeing, and Naoko's comment, weeks ago, echoed once again in   
  
her mind: he really WAS an attractive young man. But he was a VIPER, she reminded herself stubbornly as   
  
neither of them moved, the forest seeming to grow darker by the moment as they stood, motionless, on the  
  
steep slope of the ravine. Maybe he ACTED concerned, but under it all, he still was -   
  
A "Hoe!" of surprise echoed through the ravine as Shao-Lang reached down and swept her into his   
  
arms, one arm supporting her by her middle back while the other held under her knees. "This is just until  
  
we get to more even ground," he informed her gruffly, staring straight ahead as he slowly began his ascent  
  
up the side of the ravine and towards the main campus. Her cheeks warmed and she glanced away, embarrassed;   
  
of all the possible scenarios that she could have come up with, being carried up the ravine like a bride  
  
through the doorway and into her new home had not been one of them. "If you walk on it, it could get worse."  
  
She nodded and pursed her lips, still staring out at all the trees and brush throughout the ravine.  
  
"I know that," she informed him weakly, peering at him from the corner of her eye. As always, he was   
  
facing forward, jaw set and expression serious, never shifting. She sighed and wrinkled her nose,   
  
resigning herself to staring dully into space. After all, what more could she say?  
  
They were almost all the way at the top of the ravine when what she COULD - and should - say   
  
finally came to her mind, and she managed to smile while saying it.  
  
"Hey, Li?"  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
===  
  
Sakura Kinomoto struggled to hobble across the dorm room, hopping clumsily on her left foot as she   
  
tried to reach her desk from her bed without her crutches. "Hoe..." she groaned, nearly falling over before   
  
she was even halfway across the tiled floor, her sock slipping with every movement. "Figures that I break my   
  
GOOD ankle."  
  
"Figures that you break your GOOD ankle while living on the THIRD floor in the dorm furthest from  
  
all the main campus buildings," put in Tomoyo, her voice helpful until she realized that her best friend was  
  
not amused by her statement of the obvious. "Uhm, I mean, damn your luck." She forced a charming smile and  
  
turned back to her computer, fingers flying across the keyboard. "Damn it to all Hell!"  
  
"I think it's kinda funny," volunteered Keroberos with a grin, not looking up from his video game  
  
as he spoke. "Da cardcaptor's a klutz, how's about that?"  
  
The brunette sighed as she collapsed into her desk chair, propping her ankle and its corresponding  
  
pink cast up on their garbage can, which had been overturned to serve as a stool for her injury. The campus  
  
doctor had scolded her for running in the ravine, reminding her that it was a dangerous place with many   
  
exposed roots and divots to trip in. She'd taken his scolding with as much grace and dignity as she could,  
  
but taking the news that she would have to stay off her ankle for four weeks was another story entirely.  
  
It was a hairline fracture, he'd pointed out, and that meant that any pressure she put on the broken bone  
  
would make it WORSE instead of better. She was tempted to argue that the captor of the Clow cards really   
  
couldn't AFFORD to be laid up for four weeks, but Tomoyo and Shao-Lang had restrained her from throttling  
  
the older man before thanking him for his time and dragging her off to the hospital to get her ankle set.  
  
Shao-Lang. As her computer beeped and buzzed, informing her that it planned to take its sweet time  
  
booting up, she rested her chin on a fist and allowed herself to ponder the mysterious Shao-Lang Li. Despite  
  
the fact that he'd been an absolute prince when she'd broken her ankle, she still was forced to wonder if   
  
he wasn't a victim of multiple personality disorder; since Wednesday, he'd been gruff and short with her,  
  
and that was only when she initiated communication. Otherwise, he never even stopped to remind her that she  
  
was a pathetic cardcaptor, and that worried her. What was going on with him?  
  
The air tingled with the power of a Clow card every day. The overcast skies loomed heavily above  
  
campus, threatening the students with rain and wind but never following through. And with those overcast  
  
skies came the threat of another Clow card, possibly one that would strike while she was still out of   
  
commission. What then?   
  
She was just about to type in her password to sign onto the network when a knock sounded at the  
  
door, and she frowned. Hadn't Chiharu and the others just left ten or fifteen minutes earlier to take the   
  
new student, May Lynn, out for coffee? And if they were out, then who -   
  
"Come in!" called Tomoyo, and Sakura whirled around to see her roommate laying on the floor, flipping  
  
through an Ultimate X-Men comic book. Noticing the green eyes glowered in her direction, she shrugged  
  
nonchalantly, even as a tall, dark-haired young man strode into the room and closed the door hastily behind  
  
him. "What?" she asked innocently, and her friend sighed, turning back towards her computer...and noticing  
  
for the first time who their visitor was.   
  
Shao-Lang Li didn't smile, but then again, he didn't really frown, either. Instead, he strode   
  
across the room and seated himself on the edge of Sakura's bed. "Can I talk to you?" he questioned dryly in  
  
his normal, matter-of-fact manner.  
  
Resisting her urge to throw something blunt at the uninvited guest, Sakura tossed her head and focused  
  
on her computer. "If you want," she replied, finding herself growing more and more interested in reading her  
  
school-sponsored spam e-mails than actually speaking to Li. "After all, you're here and making yourself  
  
comfortable, so why shouldn't you talk to me?"  
  
His brown eyes narrowed as she opened a blank e-mail document and started typing something or another;  
  
from his position, he couldn't read that she was typing "MAKE LI GO AWAY" over and over again. "Are you  
  
alright?" he questioned, and she could hear caution in his voice, caution that happened to lack any and all  
  
actual CONCERN. "You seem upset."  
  
"Oh, REALLY?" She spun around as much as she could on her chair, somehow very irate with him. How  
  
could he not even CALL to check up on her after being sweet enough to carry her up the ravine, take her to  
  
the campus doctor, and THEN drive her all the way to the hospital to get her ankle set? "WhatEVER gave you  
  
that idea?"  
  
Li frowned slightly and fidgeted, uncomfortable. "Whatever the case," he pressed on, the unconcerned  
  
expression returning after only a brief moment, "I wanted to tell you that I have a feeling something big   
  
is - "  
  
"Big like your ego?" The question escaped from her lips before she could stop it, and somehow,   
  
she felt that her wrath was well-placed and pressed on, not even noticing that Kero and Tomoyo were both  
  
GAPING at her with wide eyes. "Or big like you seem to think your little pencil d - "  
  
"Hey now, kids!" Tomoyo clambered from her laying position to kneel, her arms crossed over her   
  
"1 15 73|-| |337357" sweatshirt. "Let's keep this little hissy-fit Nelvana-dub approved, shall we?"  
  
Surprisingly, both Li and Sakura turned to glare at her. "YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" they snapped in a   
  
surprising unison.   
  
The bickering resumed as Shao-Lang began to demand that the young brunette woman take her Midol and   
  
allow him to actually finish a sentence, and the dark-haired girl in the middle of the floor sighed and   
  
shook her head. "They would be the perfect couple if they didn't hate each other," she lamented, reopening  
  
her comic book. "Wouldn't you say so, Kero?"  
  
"I'ma BIG fan of weddin' cake," he shrugged, returning to his game. "I wanna be invited to the weddin',  
  
just for da cake."  
  
Tomoyo was fairly certain that Kero had said something else after his wedding cake comment, but she  
  
was unable to hear it due to the fact that her roommate was now screaming "GET OUT!" at the top of her lungs.  
  
Purple eyes looked away from her comic to see a sight that rode the fine line between amusing and pathetic;  
  
Sakura had taken one of her crutches from beside her desk and was using it to prod and poke at her adversary  
  
towards the door. "OUT, OUT, OUT!" she demanded, following him on her one good foot as she attempted to   
  
force him towards the door with the rubber end of her crutch. "OUT!"  
  
Of course, Sakura Kinomoto was not the type of person to have amazingly good luck in life. In fact,  
  
if her becoming the cardcaptor and then breaking her ankle in the process of capturing a card was any   
  
indication - and she definitely counted it as an indication - then she had just about the worst luck in the  
  
universe. And, as it would happen, her luck did not get BETTER as she tried to force Li from the room, not  
  
at all.  
  
It got WORSE.  
  
Now, the door beginning to open on its own accord was not, in and of itself, bad luck. What WAS bad  
  
luck was that Li had been reaching towards the doorknob just as the door began to open. Surprised, he took a  
  
long step back and, in the process, managed to smack into Sakura, who shrieked and then, true to her clumsy  
  
form, managed to utterly lose her balance. Shao-Lang wiped around on his heel in a sorry attempt to catch  
  
her, but it was too late; he and Sakura stumbled backwards to land on the floor just as the door finished  
  
opening.  
  
"Touya and Yukito! What a SURPRISE!" grinned Tomoyo merrily, hopping to her feet and "accidentally"  
  
kicking Kero underneath her own bed as she greeted the two young men in the doorway. Both were frozen like  
  
deer in headlights, and not even the charming smile of the dark-haired nineteen-year-old could snap them out  
  
of it. "Can I offer you a can of diet lemonade? Or perhaps a Vanilla Coke?"  
  
Neither of their visitors responded, and - after a moment of just kind of glancing, concerned, in   
  
their direction - Tomoyo realized that their eyes were not focused anywhere near her but rather on the floor.  
  
So, she did the only thing she could really coherently think of and followed their gazes...and had to bite  
  
her lower lip HARD to keep from falling over, laughing.  
  
Sakura and Shao-Lang laid together on the floor. His knee was between her legs, one of his arms   
  
trapped under her waist as the other propped him up, keeping him from completely laying on her. Sakura's  
  
arms were on his chest, as though they were about to push him away, yet instead of actually MOVING, the two  
  
were simply staring at each other, wide-eyed and somewhat flushed.   
  
But then, as though a spark had been ignited, Sakura's mental processes caught up with the rest of  
  
the goings-on, and she, for the first time, realized what her roommate had just said. "TOUYA?" she shrieked,  
  
immediately pushing out her arms until Li took the hint and crawled slowly off of her. "Touya, Touya, don't  
  
say it, I can - "  
  
"A boy, eh?" The dark-haired man's eyes lowered to a glare as he entered the room, a blinking Yukito   
  
following dully behind him, as though he wasn't exactly sure what to say to the entire situation at hand.   
  
"I THOUGHT the rule was that you had to tell Dad if and when you found a boyfriend. Tell me, were you planning  
  
on telling anyone?"  
  
He plopped himself down on the edge of the bed, watching with bright eyes as his younger sister   
  
struggled to her feet with a bit of help from her earlier "weapon" of a crutch. "I... He... THAT is not  
  
my boyfriend!" she stammered, pointing a trembling finger at Li, who was still sitting on the floor. "THAT  
  
is a PEST!"  
  
As he moved to sit next to his long-time roommate, Yukito smiled sweetly and winked a brown eye in   
  
the teen's direction. "He sure looks like your boyfriend, Sakura," he pointed out, leaning back on his   
  
elbows as he spoke. "Not that it's any of my business, but I thought I would point that out."  
  
Any OTHER time, Sakura would have been DELIGHTED to see the dusty-haired man flirting with her as  
  
he was right then, but currently, her only thoughts focused on convincing them that she was not involved  
  
with stupid, arrogant Shao-Lang Li. "I'm SERIOUS!" she insisted, leaning heavily on her crutch. "He's  
  
nothing more than a STUPID - "  
  
"What's your name, boy?" Touya's tone was suddenly serious, and his younger sister smacked herself,  
  
HARD, in the forehead as she realized what the change in tone MEANT. It was the tone that had, since the  
  
ninth grade, been exclusively reserved for the boys she brought home to meet the family, and it was the   
  
tone that was always lovingly accompanied by Touya's Glare of Death. "Where are you from?"  
  
Still seated on the floor, the brown-haired boy did exactly what Sakura expected him to do; he   
  
shrugged and glanced away. "What's it to you?" he demanded. "Do you REALLY think that I'm fooling around with  
  
your sister?"  
  
Stomping her bad foot on the carpeting - and then regretting the move as soon as she did so -   
  
Sakura glowered down at her brother, who was in turn glowering at Li. "TOUYA, STOP IT!" she insisted,   
  
her fists clenching in anger. "He is NOT my boyfriend, okay?! CUT IT OUT!"  
  
"His name is Li," Tomoyo informed them nonchalantly, sipping a Vanilla Coke as she spoke. Yukito  
  
politely requested a diet lemonade as everyone - including the previously-glaring Kinomoto siblings - turned  
  
to gape at her, and she strode over to the fridge to fill his order. "Shao-Lang Li, actually. He comes  
  
from Hong Kong and is new to the college."  
  
Her best friend whimpered weakly. "Tomoyo..." she pleaded. "PLEASE..."  
  
"And they're not REALLY dating," the long-haired one pressed on, handing Yukito his beverage. "In  
  
fact, they're hardly friends. But I would have to say that they would be VERY good together if they would  
  
just stop fighting all the time."  
  
Tossing his dark hair, Touya turned back towards Li, watching as the young man shifted uncomfortably  
  
and crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me, Shao-Lang - if given the chance - would you make lo - "  
  
"NO!" Sakura's eyes pressed shut in gross annoyance as she cupped her hands over her ears, not at  
  
ALL caring to hear the rest of her brother's question. "I am NOT doing this! It's just NOT happening!"  
  
Dropping her crutch with a clatter, she took one hand away from her ears long enough to point a firm finger  
  
towards the door. "OUT!" she commanded, voice cracking. "OUT, OUT, OUT!"  
  
Sighing, her brother rolled his dark eyes. "Sakura, I'm just making sure that - "  
  
"You are NOT!" she shot back, the annoyance in her voice obviously. "You are just very simply NOT!  
  
You are getting OUT, and NOW!" Hopping over to the bed, she grabbed him by his polo shirt and began to tug,  
  
HARD, at it. "OUT! OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT!!!"  
  
Touya climbed slowly to his feet only to have his sister move to behind him and push him, HARD,   
  
towards the doorway. "Sakura, I didn't mean to cause - "  
  
Her chorus of "out out out!" echoed through the room as Yukito glanced down at Tomoyo and gave her a  
  
small nod. "Thank you for the lemonade," he smiled, patting her on the shoulder. "Next time, we'll stay   
  
longer, alright?"  
  
If Sakura hadn't been so busy forcing her brother out of her dorm room (and, miraculously, on only  
  
one foot!), she would have noticed Chiharu, Naoko, Rika, and a fourth girl heading towards her room armed  
  
with two carry-out coffees. And she would have noticed the surprise on their faces, as well. But she noticed  
  
nothing except the back of her brother's navy blue shirt as she continued to push him, stumbling as he stepped  
  
out of her way and left her to skid into the hall. "LEAVE!" she shouted, almost as though she was not aware  
  
that he was actually outside her room at this point. "Get OUT, and get out N - "  
  
"Sakura! Perfect!" grinned Naoko, and the brunette girl blinked as she, for the very first time,  
  
noticed her friends from the hallway standing outside her door. "Sakura, I would like to introduce you to  
  
May Lynn Li, who just moved into the single down the hall. May Lynn, this is Sakura Kinomoto, and - oh! Her   
  
brother Touya and his roommate, Yukito Tsukishiro. They're both graduate students and live just off campus."  
  
May Lynn was, for all intents and purposes (and to Sakura's surprise), a very attractive young woman.  
  
Her long, dark hair was pulled up and back into two long ponytails fastened by big red ribbons. Her dark  
  
brown eyes twinkled as she bowed politely towards the befuddled brunette. "I am pleased to meet you," she  
  
greeted, and Sakura frowned slightly. Why was the new girl's accent so very familiar-sounding?  
  
"Uhm, well, it's nice to meet you, too," she bowed back, searching for something - anything - else  
  
to say. Then, she remembered that her brother was looming behind her and made a face, glancing back at him  
  
with sharp eyes. "But don't bother being glad to meet Touya. He was JUST LEAVING."  
  
Snorting, her brother pressed past her to offer a hand to the blinking May Lynn, who shook it limply.  
  
"Nonsense," he replied pleasantly enough. "You shouldn't listen to my little monster. It's always a pleasure  
  
to meet someone else who must be perpetually tortured by her continued existence on this planet."  
  
As the foursome of girls giggled at Touya's faux-charming behavior, Yukito sighed and shook his  
  
head. "Touya..." he groaned. "You should really - "  
  
"Hi, May Lynn!" chimed up another voice, and Tomoyo bounced out of the open doorway, grinning. "I'm  
  
Tomoyo!"  
  
"Sakura's roommate," clarified Chiharu as she handed Tomoyo one of the cups of carry-out coffee she  
  
was holding. "She's one of the two we bought coffee for."  
  
May Lynn bowed again, and Sakura frowned. Bowing... Who else bowed? "Hello."  
  
Rika looked ready to say something or another when Shao-Lang appeared in the doorway, his dark   
  
eyes sharp as he glowered towards the cardcaptor in the hallway. "Well, since I am no more welcome here  
  
than your brother," he addressed her gruffly, "I think I will...be... Oh shit."  
  
"SHAO-LANG!" Suddenly, May Lynn's polite tone disappeared and she out-and-out launched herself at  
  
the dark-haired young man, sending him staggering backwards as she hugged him hard around the neck. He   
  
choked and barely managed to keep his balance, coughing. "Your mother told me you were studying here, and   
  
that's why I came! Now we can have a big AMERICAN wedding, just like I've always DREAMED of! Isn't that  
  
WONDERFUL?!"  
  
Seven pairs of eyes blinked at the somewhat unlikely couple, and somehow, Sakura managed to squeak  
  
out the exact sentiment that everyone in the hallway was thinking: "W-w-w-w-wedding?!"  
  
Sighing, Yukito took a swig of his beverage and glanced down at the brunette's roommate. "This really  
  
is surprising," he put in, voice soft as it always was. "I really thought that Touya was right about him  
  
being Sakura's beau."  
  
Purple eyes glanced carefully up at him as Tomoyo's expression turned quite dubious. "You've  
  
never been in the same room as the two of them for very long, have you?"  
  
Li struggled with his supposed fiancée's death grip, trying desperately to free himself and failing  
  
rather miserably. "We're not really engaged!" he protested stubbornly, shaking his arm in a failing attempt  
  
to free himself. "She's my COUSIN!"  
  
Frowning, Touya ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "They allow that in Hong Kong?"  
  
Chiharu took a long swig from the other cup of coffee she was holding despite the fact that she'd  
  
originally bought it for her invalid neighbor. "And here, I thought that kind of thing was only legal in   
  
Tennessee..."  
  
"It is!" Shao-Lang frowned at his answer, especially since Rika was now shooting him the mother of  
  
all evil looks. "I mean, no! It's just that she THINKS that - "  
  
"And we'll be together forever and ever and EVER!" No one had noticed that May Lynn was still   
  
babbling until her voice rose in a crescendo that overwhelmed Li's protests. "We'll buy an American house  
  
with a white picket fence and everything will be WONDERFUL!"   
  
Sighing, the young man admitted defeat and hung his head helplessly.   
  
Sakura, who had been chewing on her fingernails ever since she'd blurted out the helpless exclamation  
  
of "wedding?!", frowned slightly and withdrew her fingers from her mouth. "But wait," she considered aloud,  
  
glancing towards her hall advisor carefully. "If she's this Li's cousin, her last name has to be L-I, and  
  
not L-E-E like on all the paperwork."  
  
"It is," pointed out the male Li helpfully, frowning slightly. "Her name is Mei-Lin Li." Everyone  
  
glanced towards him, and he sighed. "M-E-I hyphen L-I-N," he clarified, spelling out every letter carefully.   
  
"What, were you all spelling it in some sort of crazy American way?"  
  
Sighing, Naoko shook her head. "Sakura, you'll have to redo all the paperwork tomorrow," she informed  
  
her neighbor. "There will be major trouble if all the documentation has the wrong name on it."  
  
"ME?!" Sakura's voice was nothing more than a squeak as she gaped at the glassed sophomore. "ME?!  
  
It's YOUR friggin' clerical error! YOU deal with it!"  
  
Sighing, Tomoyo shook her head as she listened to the assistant hall advisor break into bickering  
  
with her boss, smiling slightly. "It's going to be a loooong night," she thought aloud before taking her   
  
coffee and pressing past Shao-Lang and his affectionate cousin, closing and locking the door behind her.  
  
===  
  
"I just don't believe it, is all!" complained Sakura - and loudly, too, realized her roommate with   
  
a soft sigh - as she hobbled down the wet campus sidewalk, her good foot sloshing through puddles while her   
  
bad one, complete with a Wal-Mart bag for a cast cover, hung limply behind her. "That VIPER of a guy has a   
  
fiancée? What is the world coming to, Tomoyo?"  
  
As if the annoyances of Saturday night had been an omen for things going from bad to worse, the skies  
  
had practically burst late that night, the walls of their dorm room shuddering with every clap of thunder and  
  
the thick draperies serving as no protection from the bright flashes of lightning that lit up the night sky.   
  
Unfortunately, the rain had not let up as all the weathermen on all the television channels had suggested it   
  
would, the dark, thick clouds continually hanging over campus and leaving it rain-soaked. Worse - and despite  
  
the fact that she would never ADMIT to it even if asked - Sakura could feel that the air tingled with the magic  
  
of the Clow, and she knew intuitively that it was only a matter of time before another card would appear. Oh,  
  
what fun THAT would be, running through campus on CRUTCHES to catch a goddamned -   
  
"If I didn't know better," quipped her roommate, lowering her video camera for a moment, "I would have  
  
to say that you were jealous." Green eyes lowered in her direction, and she chuckled oh-so-innocently, returning  
  
to her task of gathering "super-cute Sakura-on-crutches footage". "But as I said, I know better."  
  
"You'd better," muttered the brunette sophomore, glancing up at the thick cloud cover, every step   
  
splashing through the puddles as she sulked her way back towards her dorm building. Life, she decided with an   
  
irritated sigh, just wasn't in the mood to cut her ANY slack, and -   
  
There was a stirring in her jacket pocket, and she was surprised to see Kero pop out of it. He carefully  
  
surveyed the area for nearby strangers and, upon seeing no one stranger than Tomoyo, sighed in relief. "Hey,"  
  
he called up to the cardcaptor, who had turned away and returned to resolutely attempting to make it from the  
  
main campus and to her dorm room without incident, "do ya sense it?"  
  
The natural response was simple enough, though the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach was not.   
  
"Sense what, exactly?"   
  
Rolling his eyes, the guardian beast of the Clow fluttered from her pocket, moving to perch on her   
  
shoulder. "A CARD," he stressed. "There's gotta be a CARD 'round these parts. Can't ya FEEL it?"  
  
She stopped dead in her tracks, sighing. What was the point? Even were she not on crutches, she was now  
  
obviously a one-person team of card-catching; Shao-Lang had left in such a huff Saturday night, Mei-Lin following  
  
him like an obedient puppy, that she had thoroughly convinced herself that she would never see him again. And  
  
as much as she'd convinced herself that never seeing him again was a GOOD thing, well -   
  
"Well, can you?" Sakura's eyes widened as she realized that there were a pair of sneakers standing on  
  
the particular patch of sidewalk she was staring blankly at, a pair of sneakers that were attached to legs and  
  
arms. Li shifted the weight of the umbrella from one hand to another, smiling slightly. "Because if you can't,  
  
you're even more pathetic a cardcaptor than I figured you to be."  
  
Sakura glowered at him, though it was mostly a playful change in expression, and was about to protest  
  
when a shout of "SHAO-LANG" echoed through the quad and all attention was drawn towards a rain-soaked oriental  
  
girl who was running across the grassy knoll while waving frantically. "Shao-Lang, you are SO MEAN!" Mei-Lin  
  
protested, her hands on her hips as she struggled for breath, panting from her little cross-quad run. "I tell  
  
you I'm going to the bathroom and you just LEAVE? How rude is - oh, Kinomoto! And Daidouji, as well!" She bowed  
  
slightly, and the brunette struggled with her crutches to bow back, not completely sure why she was bowing in  
  
the first place. "It's nice to see you again. I hope everything was sorted out by the time you went to bed   
  
Saturday night."  
  
Tomoyo smiled charmingly, her digital camera still humming merrily along as she nodded at the new   
  
student. "They split the paperwork, actually. It all worked out in the end."  
  
Shaking his arm in an attempt to unattach his cousin - or was it really fiancée? Sakura wasn't sure   
  
whose word to believe, anymore - Li sighed and rolled his eyes. "So, do you feel it or not?" he questioned   
  
sternly. "Because, if my hunch is right, it's - "  
  
"The Storm card." They finished in unison, a surprise, and green eyes blinked as Sakura realized exactly  
  
what she had just said. "That's funny," she thought aloud, frowning slightly. "The feeling had been extremely  
  
faint, before..."  
  
Something poked her, HARD, on the shoulder, and she turned to see Kero pointing upwards, a somewhat  
  
concerned look on his face. "Uhm, it coulda been 'cause THE CARD IS RIGHT FREAKIN' UP THERE!"  
  
All faces glanced up to see one cloud apart from the rest, floating merrily around of its own accord  
  
and hovering - as luck would have it - right around the library roof. Gritting her teeth, Sakura scowled. "Just  
  
GREAT," she muttered, groping in her pockets for the Key of Clow and realizing that she'd left it on her  
  
dresser. "I don't even have the flippin' key with me!"  
  
"Good!" cheered Tomoyo, flipping off her camera. "If we run back and get it, then, you can put on one  
  
of my new uber-cute outfits!" Her purple eyes sparkled with the light of a thousand stars as she sighed   
  
contently. "My Sakura, all dressed up in another of her magical girl outfits, catching that nasty Storm card...  
  
It brings tears to my eyes."  
  
And suddenly, it all came together and Mei-Lin, who'd been listening to the conversation with wide,   
  
confused eyes, realized EXACTLY what was going on.   
  
"Waaaaait," the dark-haired girl protested, letting go of her better - or possibly worse, depending  
  
on who you asked - half and stepping forward to stand face-to-face with the brunette. "You mean to tell me  
  
that you are the new cardcaptor?"  
  
Somehow, Sakura didn't like where the conversation was headed at ALL. "Yeah... Why?"  
  
"So you're Shao-Lang's great rival, are you?"  
  
Groaning audibly, Li reached forward, grasping his cousin by the upper arm and tugging at her. "Mei-Lin,  
  
let's talk about this LATER," he pleaded, but she slithered from his grasp and turned to glower at him. "Right  
  
NOW, there's a card and - "  
  
"If she is your great rival, Shao-Lang, we must duel!" Wiping back around, she poked said "great rival"  
  
in the chest, and hard, too, nearly hard enough to send Sakura stumbling backwards. "I challenge you, Kinomoto  
  
Sakura, to a duel until the death!"  
  
If green eyes had been wide before, they were now the size of dinner plates. "H-HOE?" she squawked,   
  
hopping backwards simply to put a LITTLE more space between herself and the girl who she was now thoroughly   
  
convinced was a raving lunatic. "A duel to the DEATH? No way!"  
  
Li sighed and shook his head. "Mei-Lin..."  
  
"We must duel! It's the only honorable thing to do!"  
  
"Mei-Lin!"  
  
"I must protect the honor of my precious Shao-Lang!"  
  
"MEI-LIN!"  
  
===  
  
"No one really respects the institution of the honorable duel to the death, anymore," muttered Mei-Lin  
  
as they trudged slowly up the steps to the library roof, her red-and-gold ceremonial robes dragging against the  
  
stairs. "Everyone CLAIMS they do, of course, but then do they follow through? Of course not. It's too 'messy'  
  
these days." Brown eyes flicked towards her neighbor, who was dutifully recording every movement of the toga-  
  
clad cardcaptor on film. "Don't you agree, Daidouji?"  
  
Blinking, Tomoyo forced a little smile and nodded, never really taking her attention away from the   
  
camera. "I'm sure they'll come back into style, Mei-Lin," she assured the female Li ancestor, zooming in on  
  
the laurel leaves that were bobby-pinned in her roommate's shoulder-length bob of hair. "After all, look at   
  
bellbottoms. They were out for twenty-odd years, but now everyone's wearing them again! I give it a year before  
  
duels to the death are all the rage once again."  
  
As Mei-Lin gleefully thanked the other student for her input, Kero fluttered up the stairs backwards,   
  
his dark eyes focused on the two cardcaptors who made their way towards the roof, Li occasionally having to   
  
pause to keep Sakura from tumbling backwards down the stairs. "Now, I dun really remember Storm all dat well,"  
  
he admitted, his little plush-toy brow furrowed in thought as they rounded the sixth-floor landing. "Windy  
  
ain't gonna do much, and ya can't really use Fly with your broken ankle, so I'm thinkin' some Watery with   
  
maybe a l'il bit of - "  
  
"Yeah, yeah, Kero," sighed Sakura as they finally came up on the door to the roof. The Staff of Sealing  
  
hung limply in her hand as Li manned the door, forcing it open with a well-placed shoulder shove. It was common  
  
knowledge that the lock to the roof door of the library didn't work as well as it probably should, and many  
  
students of the upstate college used the roof as a study nook. Rain drizzled down on the roof as she hobbled  
  
out onto the tarred surface, her toga nearly tripping her up as it had so many times before. Silently, she   
  
cursed Tomoyo's ridiculous costume designs, watching idly as Li followed her out onto the roof, Mei-Lin and   
  
Tomoyo only a few steps behind him. Mei-Lin's ceremonial robes, as "Iron Monkey"-esque as her cousin's were,   
  
sloshed through a puddle, and the brunette sighed. What next? A third-cousin on their uncle's side?  
  
Thunder crackled and lightning flashed, and for the first time, Sakura noticed that the Storm card   
  
was perched on the edge of library roof, its little legs swinging idly as it peered down below. From the ground,  
  
she had not realized that Storm looked as similar to Rain as it did, and she frowned slightly. Somehow, she  
  
was now sorely convinced that the little elven-looking Rain would be as equally useless against Storm as, well,  
  
any of the others would be, and she sighed, muttering "Dammit."  
  
Unfortunately for her and the others on the roof, that "dammit" echoed, and the Storm card hopped off  
  
the ledge around the roof and onto a little puff of cloud, its previously innocent-looking eyes narrowing as he  
  
discovered that he was being watched. "Smooth!" shot Li as a gust of wind flew their direction, causing the  
  
foursome of college students to scatter, less they be knocked down. "Let's just TELL the card we're going to   
  
capture it while we're at it, eh?"  
  
"Oh, shut UP!" The Staff of Sealing twirled nimbly through her fingers as Sakura mentally ran through her  
  
list of cards, somewhat distracted by her rival's quip. "I'm calling the shots here, so you can just can it!"  
  
Another gust of wind whirled past, just brushing Sakura's shoulder and sending Kero tumbling through  
  
the air. "Less bickerin' and more, ya know, CARDCAPTORIN'!" he commanded as he was thrown against the now-  
  
closed door to the library steps. "An' hurry..." His black eyes turned into little swirls as he passed out as  
  
only a plushie could.  
  
"Let me help!" Mei-Lin announced, hopping forward. Li groaned as soon as she said this, rolling his eyes.  
  
"I can beat it into submission."  
  
"When it's floating seven stories above the ground? Good luck!" His admonishment caused brown eyes to   
  
turn teary, and he frowned as soon as he noticed that his cousin was now sniffling helplessly. "Mei-Lin, you  
  
know that I didn't mean it like that..."  
  
Sakura sighed and dug through the pockets that Tomoyo had built into her stupid toga, searching for her  
  
Clow cards. With Kero passed out and Li backpedaling to keep his stupid girlfriend or whatever the Hell she  
  
was from crying, it appeared to truly be a one-woman fight...starring a one-legged woman, no less! Pulling   
  
Watery from her pocket, she tossed it into the air, bringing the staff down upon it almost immediately. "Watery!"  
  
she commanded, nearly thrown off balance from swinging the staff. "Use your watery power to, well, do SOMETHING  
  
to Storm!"  
  
"Something" obviously was not a very good choice of words, because, as the mist from Watery's escape  
  
from the card rose up around her, she realized too late that Watery and Storm actually got ALONG, and the  
  
drizzle became all-out pouring rain, soaking everyone on the roof. Throwing down her crutches in annoyance,   
  
the brunette brushed her now-sodden bangs from her eyes and dug through her personal effects, searching for ANY  
  
other card that would work. Windy was too docile... Fly, Jump, and Float really weren't appropriate for the   
  
situation at hand... Flower, Woody, Sword, Shield, and Create ABSOLUTELY weren't appropriate for the situation...  
  
Thunder would probably end up going the route of Watery... Then what -   
  
An idea occurred to her, and her fingers grasped the card that came to mind, somehow managing to find   
  
it in the deck that she had hidden away. The Staff of Sealing danced on her finger as she twirled it, ready  
  
to bring it down and -   
  
"SAKURA!" Li's scream came too late, and suddenly Sakura was caught up in a whirlwind, her feet lifting  
  
off the ground. Storm grinned evilly as she was tossed and turned in the air, kicking and squirming as the   
  
windstorm carried her closer and closer towards the edge of the roof - and towards the seven-story fall beyond.  
  
Somehow, though, her mind cleared and she was able to control the fear that was welling up in the pit  
  
of her stomach. "RAIN!" she cried out, her voice cracking as she tossed the card down beside her in the   
  
center of the whirlwind. "You and Storm are friends, right? Distract him!"  
  
The Rain card emerged merrily from its magical confines, grinning happily as it floated up towards   
  
Storm. Storm glanced warily at the other card, but just that simple glance was enough to give Sakura one last  
  
advantage, and she grabbed at the opportunity with white knuckles, unwilling to let go. "JUMP!" Her sandal   
  
sprouted wings as soon as the card was called to her services and suddenly she was above both cloud-riding   
  
cards, free-falling with the Staff of Sealing aimed right at Storm's head. "Return to thy true form! Clow CARD!"  
  
Her voice echoed through the air as, once again, the magic of the Clow allowed her to levitate, keeping  
  
her high above the ground. But as always, she knew that it would inevitably give out and leave her free-falling...  
  
And with a seven-story drop below, she was fairly certain that she would break a lot more than her ankle. Still,  
  
it was a risk she was willing to take, and perhaps -  
  
The magic gave out, and she pressed shut her eyes, ready to make a frantic grab for the Fly card in   
  
hopes of catching herself with it - a frantic grab that ended up being wholly unneeded.  
  
"You're heavier than you look," grunted an accented voice, and Sakura's eyes flew open to see Mei-Lin  
  
leaning over the ledge around the library, her sodden pigtails hanging in her face as she struggled to keep  
  
her grip on the dangling cardcaptor.   
  
"Mei-Lin?" Even as the other student dragged her over the ledge and back onto the relative safety of  
  
the roof, she couldn't believe what had just happened. "I thought you wanted to duel me to the death."  
  
"Well, I do." Mei-Lin smiled charmingly, her face lighting up as she spoke. "Which is why I saved you.  
  
I can't very well duel you to the death if you're dead, now can I?"  
  
They both chuckled, and Sakura accepted her crutches from a nearby Li, glad to have them back. "Well,  
  
then, thanks... I think," she replied, not totally sure if she was kidding or not; which was worse, a duel  
  
to the death, or falling to her death? "Despite the fact that your rude cousin never even bothered to mention  
  
you, I appreciate your saving my life and all."  
  
"Oh, so all this is MY fault?" If Sakura was only half-kidding, the glaring Shao-Lang was not even  
  
one-quarter kidding. "Maybe if you had taken the time to actually double-check the name on your paperwork,  
  
you wouldn't have been so shocked."  
  
Mei-Lin watched, wide-eyed, as the cardcaptor out-and-out turned on the young man, scowling at him.  
  
"Me? ME?! You COULD have just MAYBE thought to mention that you have a cousin who you're, you know,  
  
BETROTHED to!"  
  
"And I should tell you about my personal life...why?" Li tossed his head and turned away, rolling  
  
his eyes. "Seriously."  
  
"Seriously? SERIOUSLY, an engagement is a VERY BIG THING!"  
  
"Oh, so now you reserve the right to decide what in my life qualifies as a 'big thing'? I see..."  
  
As the arguing continued on, Mei-Lin glanced towards Tomoyo, watching as the long-haired woman shut  
  
off her camera and returned it to her camera bag. "Uhm, Daidouji, should I be flattered that they're  
  
arguing about me, or no?"   
  
The question was pensive and nervous, and the camerawoman chuckled at it. "Mei-Lin, you must realize  
  
something about these two," she confided in the new student, moving to rest a hand on her sopping-wet   
  
shoulder. "If they were not fighting about you, they would be fighting about me. Or about Kero. Or about  
  
the weather, or the nature of politics, or the color of the grass."  
  
"Wow." It was neither a question or a statement, but rather some sort of strange hybrid that was   
  
both completely appropriate and yet wholly inappropriate as a response. "They would be the perfect couple  
  
were it not for Shao-Lang being engaged to me, wouldn't they?"  
  
Cocking an eyebrow, Tomoyo sighed and shook her head, turning her face to the now-cloudless sky.  
  
"Something like that," she agreed, smiling as the warm sun - something she had sorely missed since the storms  
  
had begun more than twenty-four hours before - beat down on her face. "Definitely, just...something like   
  
that."  
  
===  
  
Touya could not concentrate.  
  
It was usually a rare day when he - studious, or at least so he considered himself - had trouble   
  
concentrating. He was the type of person who could write a paper while music blared and glasses clanked  
  
together, and freshman year, he'd often had to do just that; his frat-boy roommate never did quite find a   
  
good grip on the concept of "silent study," and, consequently, had been asked to attend a different school for  
  
his sophomore year. Since then, Touya's opportunities for peace and quiet had increased in number, and he'd  
  
thrived because of it.  
  
Until now.  
  
Sakura had always been a pain, he reminded himself as he stared blankly at the screen, idly trying  
  
to come up with material to write on. Since childhood, she'd been the little priss in the family, pampered  
  
and coddled by both himself and their father. As she had blossomed and matured, she'd grown into a respectable  
  
teen and then young woman, and so it should have come as no surprise that she would attract admirers of the  
  
opposite sex. None of her high school boyfriends sans one - one who had dumped her halfway through her   
  
junior high of high school - had been even remotely serious, and that was why seeing her on the floor with  
  
that strange boy had surprised him. He'd struggled to keep his cool demeanor, and, as he'd told Yukito   
  
Saturday night before they turned in, the only reason he hadn't blown his top had been out of respect for  
  
his sister.  
  
Shao-Lang Li. The name rang in his head. Despite being the playboy type - Touya was sorely convinced  
  
that he'd looked something like young master Li when he was a college sophomore - he was rude and self-  
  
possessed. What kind of boyfriend responded to a question from his girl's older brother with "What's it  
  
to you?" Then again, what kind of boyfriend seduced his girl in her dorm room while her roommate was present?  
  
No, this was not a matter of blowing his top, this was a matter of keeping his sister's reputation clean.  
  
A matter of avoiding bad press. A matter of keeping things from getting too out of hand.  
  
His fingers began to fly across the keyboard, inspiration overtaking his writer's block as he   
  
furiously began to type out his paper. Fire, he decided as he composed the opening paragraph, could easily  
  
be fought with fire, and it certainly would be, this time.  
  
That brat, that Shao-Lang Li, was going DOWN.  
  
===  
  
End Chapter 7.  
  
Author's Notes: Yes, I finally updated after six months. ^^;; Be excited!  
  
The "Circle in a circle" song that Sakura thinks of is by Dusty Springfield. It's called "Windmills of Your  
  
Mind" and is, in fact, a jazz song. Just so you know. 


End file.
